of formality,
incredibly indeed altered all their relation. But--to marry him--it
meant all sorts of other things; it meant definitely giving up; it meant
definitely taking on. What it meant taking on was Franklin's
raylessness, Franklin's obscurity, Franklin's dun-colour--could a wife
escape the infection? What it meant giving up was more vague, but it
floated before her as the rose-coloured dream of her youth--the hero,
the earnest, ardent hero, who was to light all life to rapture and
significance. And, absurdly, while the drift of glamour and regret
floated by, and while she sat with Franklin's arm about her, her hand in
his, it seemed to shape itself for a moment into the gay, irresponsible
face of Gerald Digby. Absurd, indeed; he was neither earnest nor ardent,
and if he were he would never feel earnestness or ardour on her account.
Franklin certainly responded, in that respect, to the requirements of
her dream. Yet--ah, yet--he responded in no other. It was not enough to
have eyes only for her. A hero should draw others' eyes upon him; should
have rays that others could recognise. Althea was troubled, and she was
also ashamed of herself, but whether because of that vision of Gerald
Digby, or whether because she was allowing Franklin privileges never
allowed before, she did not know. Only the profundity of reverence that
beamed upon her from Franklin's eyes enabled her to regain her
self-respect.

Smiling a little constrainedly, she drew her hand from his and rose. 'I
mustn't bind myself,' she repeated, standing with downcast eyes before
him, 'but I'll try; indeed, I'll try.'

'You want to be in love with me, if only you can manage it, don't you,
dear?' he questioned; and to this she could truthfully reply, 'Yes, dear
Franklin, I want to be in love with you.'

CHAPTER X.

Althea found, as she had hoped, that her whole situation was altered by
the arrival of her suitor. A woman boasting the possession of even the
most rayless of that species is in a very different category from the
woman as mere unsought unit. As unit she sinks easily into the
background, is merged with other unemphatic things, but as sought she is
always in the foreground, not only in her own, but in others' eyes. Be
she ever so unnoticeable, she then gains, at least, the compliment of
conjecture. The significance of her personal drama has a universal
interest; the issues of her situation are those that appeal forcibly to
all.

Alt