Paths of Judgement

final, disconcerting notes of Art Nouveau. Circular plush seats enclosed lofty palms; sofas and chairs weirdly suggested vegetable forms; on walls and draperies was an ob

rage of its new convictions; there were accretions, no

, and a tepid cup of tea, and left her to dispose of herself as best she might, while she herself turned her quick, tight smile on Maurice Wynne. Carrying her tea-cup, Felicia went across the room to a solitary seat under the tallest palm, amused as usual by her own contrast to the tropics above her and the upholstered respectabili

surveyed his hostess, only a calm vacancy; but his profile was arrogantly perfect. One sought face and figure in vain for some humanizing defect, some deviation from Olympian completeness. He had the air, radiant and inflexible, of a sun-god. His height, too, was Olympian; his legs, terminating in long, sle

nt of Mid-Victorian had ebbed, leaving Liberty hangings and deep cushions, inviting to pensiveness, in full possession. The presence among the cushions was, she f

ncholy smile of her half-parted lips; her eyes were pale, shadowed to mysterious depths by long eyelids; soft dust-coloured hair haloed a narrow face and a long throat, the face so narrow that all the delicate features looked disproportionately large. There was an almost spectre-like effect in this emphasis of the means of expression and the meagreness of setting, and the expression itself, thought Felicia, was like a cosmetic, cunningly applied. A "touched-up" spectre. Lady Angela certainly

d found, said to her, "You don't like your aunt-nor do I. You are out of your milieu here. Nobody here is capable of appreciating you; but I appreciate you." The

perturbing impression than his imperturbable glance implied. He was displeased that Maurice should not be sitting beside Lady Angela, and displeased that the girl beside whom he was sitting should be so freshly young an

seat. "What have you been do

ectly survey Felicia and Maurice;

their fortunate recipients that her letters were to be preserved; future publication was a probability; Angela looked up

ficance was shown by his next placid question, "What about?"-quite imply

his worldly relative. It was with the mildness of an intelligent forbearance th

ckingly, indeed, with a cool kindness. Both smile and kindness were keenly offen

rice are ali

ce is a subjectivist; his feel

to suspect that the meditatively inclined head of a marble Hermes is gently quizzing one is a peculiarly baffling experience; it was one that Geoffrey often gave her. He was one of the few people, she told herself

ce between you is that he is selfish and you u

k of the sofa, Angela arra

-perhaps a habit caught in the scuffles of debate. But certain attitu

not at her but at the young couple under the palm-tree. "I hope not. Surely I am right i

e those who do?-try always to smirch the effort in the eyes of those who make it? I hope that I

htly, as he would have thought over any unimportant fact put before him. Looking round at her and again smiling, he observed, "I am sure that you

imes try to help them by a little faith in them. Nothing is more maiming to an ide

lent; but it was now as if his thought had passed away from her and her words, and his abrupt change of the subject when he again spo

ood match for Maurice. Angela had always hoped that Geoffrey saw the delay in final measures as caused by her own hesitation; and that at times he had tried to urge her to a decision, she had fancied more than once, and always with a soothing sense of sustainment. He knew Maurice so well; the hesitation, then, could not be Maurice's, although to her

rrick's," Geoffrey observed. "An ugly woman," he w

face, Geoffrey; ignorant, empty of all but a shallow joy in life. It hasn't suffered, isn't ca

reflecting that it was natural that Angela should

extremely sophisticated. The dryad has found a dressmaker in her

's really delightful to see such frank enjoymen

pardon, it i

Maurice's

ce so int

n't

t her sandwiches he meditat

, and it was Angela who broke it wit

of the chance of being with him in

did Mauri

y. "To see you-in a quiet

pass, forestalling a

Maurice and for Mrs. Merrick

rs. Merric

or sophisticated gowns. I saw a good deal of her in London. S

t your efforts will bring something out. I con

arid soil. I can help her. She made m

etorts, but his answering

sake," he said, "rather than for Mrs. Merrick's." And Angela