petty rights here,
And our potty dignity there;
We make no allowance for others,
They make no allowance for us;
We catch hold of them by the ear,
They grab hold of us by the hair
The result is a bit of a muddle
That ends in a bit of a fuss."

He saw that it neither rhymed nor scanned, and with a grave face he tore
it up.

Again Mrs. Pendyce told her cabman to drive slowly, and again he drove
her faster than usual; yet that drive to Chelsea seemed to last for
ever, and interminable were the turnings which the cabman took, each one
shorter than the last, as if he had resolved to see how much his horse's
mouth could bear.

'Poor thing!' thought Mrs. Pendyce; 'its mouth must be so sore, and it's
quite unnecessary.' She put her hand up through the trap. "Please take
me in a straight line. I don't like corners."

The cabman obeyed. It worried him terribly to take one corner instead of
the six he had purposed on his way; and when she asked him his fare,
he charged her a shilling extra for the distance he had saved by going
straight. Mrs. Pendyce paid it, knowing no better, and gave him sixpence
over, thinking it might benefit the horse; and the cabman, touching his
hat, said:

"Thank you, my lady," for to say "my lady" was his principle when he
received eighteen pence above his fare.

Mrs. Pendyce stood quite a minute on the pavement, stroking the horse's
nose and thinking:

'I must go in; it's silly to come all this way and not go in!'

But her heart beat so that she could hardly swallow.

At last she rang.

Mrs. Bellew was seated on the sofa in her little drawing-room whistling
to a canary in the open window. In the affairs of men there is an
irony constant and deep, mingled with the very springs of life. The
expectations of Mrs. Pendyce, those timid apprehensions of this meeting
which had racked her all the way, were lamentably unfulfilled. She had
rehearsed the scene ever since it came into her head; the reality seemed
unfamiliar. She felt no nervousness and no hostility, only a sort of
painful interest and admiration. And how could this or any other woman
help falling in love with George?

The first uncertain minute over, Mrs. Bellew's eyes were as friendly as
if she had been quite within her rights in all she had done; and Mrs.
Pendyce could not help meeting friendliness halfway.

"Don't be angry with me for coming. George doesn't know. I felt I must
come to see you.