Double Harness

as elusive as the physical changes which pass upon the face of the body. From day to day there is no difference; but days make years, and years change youth to maturity, maturity to decay

esently the cloud thickens, deepens, hardens. It seems now a wall, stout and high; the gates are heavy and forbidding, and they stand where once there was ready and eagerly welcomed entrance and access. Think of what it is to look for a letter sometimes. It comes not on Monday-it's nothing; nor on T

ppened. She would have had none of it; there was nothing to recommend it; it was not even unusual. But it would come-and what did it come to? Nothing alarming or vulgar or sensational. Grantley's gallantry forbade that, his good manners, his affectionate ways, his real love for her. It was forbidden too by the moments of rapture which she excited and which she shared; they were stil

y valued, tended, caressed-yes, and even loved. A great acquisition perhaps expressed it-a very prized possession-a cherished treasure. Sometimes, after putting it as low as she could in chagrin, she put it as high as she could-by way of testing it. Put it how she would, the ultimate result worked out the same. She made much less difference to Grantley Imason than she had looked to make; she was much less of and in his life, much less of the essence, more of an accretion. She was outside his innermost self-a stranger to his closest fastnesses. Was that the

her sisterly affection for him and her motherly interest in Sibylla, she had ventured o

vulsions, as the woman does and does so effectively, he doesn't get any more sympathy, because it's not the ideal for the man-not our national idea, anyhow. You see the dilemma he's in? If he's not emotional he's not interesting; if he's emotional he's not manly. I'm speaking of a doub

to complain or criticise, but if

my defence--" he

ou on your defen

general

hint, in your graceful way, that S

air! You

-exacting-

likes living on the heights. I like going up there

that very well-quite

g in the tail o

l, I'm a

sense of humour. If I perceive dimly that somehow something hasn't been quite what i

d," Mrs. Raymore

by a good gallop-not at all a bad prescription! After a little of that, she's laughing at herself

not much wrong. But take care. Not everythin

nk heaven, or whe

land, for

y longer, I

the desperate cases; not even for ot

st be a looker-on; and you'll tell me husband

l convince you sooner

me into which the future wife had fitted so easily and perfectly, into which the actual wife fitted with more difficulty. But he was dealing with the difficulty in a very good spirit and a very good temper. If the scheme were possible at all-given Sibylla as she was-he was quite the man to put it through successfully. But sh

wn. The two things grew side by side, their roots intertangled. Every glance of admiration she won, every murmur of approval she created, gave him joy and seemed to give him tribute

ung fellow," said Grantley gaily. "So

ur bow and spear!"

ctions, please! Don't

very laudatory

how John Fansha

close union were the thing, was not that close? Her triumphs made his-what could be closer than that? At this time any criticism on him was genu

quite all right?"

h her favourite old woman to look after her. There she'll stay

l on

ar-and get back

be very

" he laughed, "very ple

He had wanted the dynasty carried on. There was every prospect of a start being made in that direction very

ke you that there's some troubl

ylla and the favourite old woman," she added a moment later, with her eyes on

herself and all she had; and this talent and impulse her husband had not satisfied. He was immured in his fastness; he seemed to want only what she counted small tributes and minor sacrifices-they had appeared large once, no doubt, but now looked small because they fell short of the largest that were possible. The great satisfaction, the great outlet, lay in the coming of the child. In pouring out her love on the head of the child she would at the same time pour it out at the feet of him whose the child was. Before such splendid lavishness he must at last stand disarmed, he must throw open all his s

ich served so well to soften or to recommend them. The sort of atmosphere which Mrs. Mumple carried with her was one which should be diffused sparingly and with great caution about a man at once so self-centred and so fastidious as Grantley Imason. Mrs. Mumple was lavishly affectionate; she was also pervasive, and, finally, a trifle i

and prized, put the case a thousand times too high, exaggerating all one side, utterly ignoring all the

ey'll be sick to death of the wh

be "put off" (as Jeremy phrased it) by an intrusion too frequent and importunate, or a sentiment extravagant in any degree or the least overstr

On arriving at the Fairhaven station from one of his expeditions to town, Grantley found Jeremy awaiting him. Jeremy was pale, but his manner kept its incisiveness, his speech its lucidity. Sibylla had met

dog of Jarman's? It was running loose-I saw it myself; indeed I saw the whole thing. She was trotting along, thinking of nothing at all, I suppose. The dog started a

r of

d. She was unconscious. A couple of labourers helped me to take her home, and I got Mumple

re getting int

ll how bad it is?

east. How

get home as q

ting the seat for the Division. He had been very full of these notions, and had meant to spend two or three quiet days in reviewing and considering them. This sudden shock was hard to face and realise. It was difficult, too, to conceive of anything being wrong wi

?" Jeremy asked as

beast: what more could you do?

ow and fear had not banished anger when

ossible not to respect her grief, but no less impossible to get any clear information from her. Lamentations alternated with attempted excuses for Sibylla's obstinacy; she tried to make out that she h

ay of Judgment, Mrs. Mumple. Since you're incapable of telling me anything, h

ouses and cottages. His knowledge was neither profound nor recent; he had not kept up his reading, and his practical opportunities had been very few. He seemed, when he came, a good deal upset and decidedly nervous, as though he were faced with a sudden responsibility by

ith impatience that Mrs. Mumple had come back and stood there liste

she's very prostrate-suffering from severe shock.

injury, Dr

ock is

it kil

no, no! She has a splendid cons

s that

n fact, a lesion, a local injury, a fracture,

iet, Mrs. Mumple. You really

btedly! I-I can't say it isn't s

it fatal or lik

man-he had, it seemed, found another old woman; so he angrily thought withi

explain the ca

Just now I want the result-the

t. But the injury creates a condition of things which might, and in my judgment woul

uld that b

nervousness

se which would produce danger. It would be

t the o

the only way c

le interrupted him. Grant

he said

the birth of the

anaged to deliver himself of his message. "I understand you now. Set

mpler-not, of cou

free fro

thou

ree from dange

cally free in the case of so g

hought for

object to my having ano

ious on old Ga

id. "The responsibility in s

man, and I'll wire

till Grantley named a man known to ev

: "If I understand the case right, I haven't a moment's hesitation in my mind. But I should like to ask y

e the alternative is as you put it. But there are, of

eague, the only thing-the only thing-you have to think of is my wife. Those are my definite wishes, please

n the garden and report to him. Mrs. Mumple came forwa

, poor little child!" she stammer

ence broke out in

for the child!" he said, snap