rter had left the room.

The Squire broke it with a sigh.

"I wish we were back at Oxenham's, Paramor. This serves me right for
deserting the old house. What on earth made me send George to Eton?"

Mr. Paramor buried his nose in the vase. In this saying of his old
schoolfellow was the whole of the Squire's creed:

'I believe in my father, and his father, and his father's father, the
makers and keepers of my estate; and I believe in myself and my son and
my son's son. And I believe that we have made the country, and shall
keep the country what it is. And I believe in the Public Schools, and
especially the Public School that I was at. And I believe in my social
equals and the country house, and in things as they are, for ever and
ever. Amen.'

Mr. Pendyce went on:

"I'm not a Puritan, Paramor; I dare say there are allowances to be made
for George. I don't even object to the woman herself; she may be too
good for Bellew; she must be too good for a fellow like that! But for
George to marry her would be ruination. Look at Lady Rose's case! Anyone
but a star-gazing fellow like Vigil must see that! It's taboo! It's
sheer taboo! And think--think of my--my grandson! No, no, Paramor; no,
no, by God!"

The Squire covered his eyes with his hand.

Mr. Paramor, who had no son himself, answered with feeling:

"Now, now, old fellow; it won't come to that!"

"God knows what it will come to, Paramor! My nerve's shaken! You know
yourself that if there's a divorce he'll be bound to marry her!"

To this Mr. Paramor made no reply, but pressed his lips together.

"There's your poor dog whining," he said.

And without waiting for permission he opened the door. Mrs. Pendyce and
the spaniel John came in. The Squire looked up and frowned. The spaniel
John, panting with delight, rubbed against him. 'I have been through
torment, master,' he seemed to say. 'A second separation at present is
not possible for me!'

Mrs. Pendyce stood waiting silently, and Mr. Paramor addressed himself
to her.

"You can do more than any of us, Mrs. Pendyce, both with George and with
this man Bellew--and, if I am not mistaken, with his wife."

The Squire broke in:

"Don't think that I'll have any humble pie eaten to that fellow Bellew!"

The look Mr. Paramor gave him at those words, was like that of a doctor
diagnosing a disease. Yet there was nothing in the expression of the
Squire's face with its thin grey whiskers and moustache, its twist to
th