that he had done with love-affairs, and women
instinctively felt it safe to allow him a personal freedom towards them,
which from other men would have offended them. He might pat a girl's
shoulder, or lay a playful grasp on a woman's arm, and nobody minded; it
was a sign of his liking, and most people wished to be liked by him.
However he never allowed himself any half-caress of the kind towards
Nelly Sarratt now; and once or twice, in the old days, before Sarratt's
disappearance, Cicely had fancied that she had seen Nelly check rather
sharply one of these demonstrations of Willy's which were so natural to
him, and in general so unconscious and innocent.

And now he never attempted them. What did that mean? Simply--so Cicely
thought--that he was in love, and dared venture such things no longer.
But all the same there were plenty of devices open to him by which week
after week he surrounded Nelly with a network of care, which implied
that he was always thinking of her; which were in fact a caress,
breathing a subtle and restrained devotion, more appealing than anything
more open. And Cicely seemed to see Nelly yielding--unconsciously;
unconsciously 'spoilt,' and learning to depend on the 'spoiler.' Why did
Hester seem so anxious always about Farrell's influence with Nelly--so
ready to ward him off, if she could? For after all, thought Cicely,
easily, however long it might take for Nelly to recover her hold on
life, and to clear up the legal situation, there could be but one end of
it. Willy meant to marry this little woman; and in the long run no woman
would be able to resist him.

* * * * *

The friends set out to stroll homewards through the long May evening,
talking of the hideous Irish news--how incredible amid the young
splendour of the Westmorland May!--or of the progress of the war.

Meanwhile Bridget Cookson was walking to meet them from the Rydal end of
the Lake. She was accompanied by a Manchester friend, a young doctor,
Howson by name, who had known the sisters before Nelly's marriage. He
had come to Ambleside in charge of a patient that morning, and was going
back on the morrow, and then to France. Bridget had stumbled on him in
Ambleside, and finding he had a free evening had invited him to come
and sup with them. And a vivid recollection of Nelly Cookson as a girl
had induced him to accept. He had been present indeed at the Sarratt
wedding, and could never forget Nelly as