could not separate him from his genius; and his genius had long ago
overleapt the social gulf. And now, without poor Flossie, without the
safeguard of his engagement, she felt herself insecure and
shelterless. More than ever since he had overleapt that barrier too.

But though Lucia had found out all these things, she had not yet found
out why it was that she had been so glad to hear that Keith Rickman
was going to be married, nor why she had been so passionately eager to
keep him to his engagement. In any case she could not have borne to be
the cause of unhappiness to another woman; and that motive was so
natural that it served for all.

As things had turned out, if he had married, that, she had understood,
would have been such a closing of the door as would have shut him out
for ever. And now that he was knocking at the door again, now that
there was no reason why, once opened, it should not remain open, she
began to be afraid of what might enter in with him. She made up her
mind that she would not let him in. So she sat down and wrote a cold
little note to say that she was afraid she would not be able to see
him next week. Could he not explain the business in writing? She took
that letter to the post herself. And as each step brought her nearer
to the inevitable act, the conviction grew on her that this conduct of
hers was cowardly, and unworthy both of him and of herself. A refusal
to see him was a confession of fear, and fear assumed the existence of
the very thing his letter had ignored. It was absurd too, if he had
come to see that his feeling for her was (as she persisted in
believing it to be) a piece of poetic folly, an illusion of the
literary imagination. She turned back and tore up that cold little
note, and wrote another that said she would be very glad to see him
any day next week, except Friday. There was no reason why she should
have excepted Friday; but it sounded more business-like somehow.

She did not take Kitty into her confidence, and in this she failed to
perceive the significance of her own secrecy. She told herself that
there was no need to ask Kitty's advice, because she knew perfectly
well already what Kitty's advice would be.

He came on Tuesday. Monday was too early for his self-respect,
Wednesday too late for his impatience. He had looked to find
everything altered in and about Court House; and he saw, almost with
surprise, the same April flowers growing in the green garden, and the