knew exactly what he wanted to do, and he looked forward to doing it. He
wanted quiet, he wanted long days alone with himself. Such were his
thoughts in the dog-cart as he drove home, and it was therefore vaguely
unpleasant to him to meet the two ladies waiting for him at the lodge gate.
Their smiles of welcome irritated him; he longed for the solitude of his
study, the companionship of his work; and instead he had to sit with them
in the drawing-room, and tell them how he liked London, what he had done
there, whom he had seen there, and why he had been unable to finish his
play to his satisfaction.

In the morning Emily or Mrs. Bentley was generally about to pour out his
coffee for him and keep him company. One day Hubert noticed that it was no
longer Mrs. Bentley but Emily who met him in the passage, and followed him
into the dining-room. And while he was eating she sat with her feet on the
fender, talking of some girls in the neighbourhood--their jealousies, and
how Edith Eastwick could not think of anything for herself, but always
copied her dresses. Dandy drowsed at her feet, and very often she would
take him to the window and make him go through all his tricks, calling on
Hubert to admire him.

She had a knack of monopolising Hubert, and since his return from London,
her desire to do so had become almost a determination. Hubert showed no
disinclination, and after breakfast they were to be seen together in the
gardens. Hubert was a great catch, and there were other young ladies eager
to be agreeable to him; but he did not seem to desire flirtation with any.
So they came to speak of him as a very clever man, no doubt; but as they
knew nothing about plays, he very probably did not care to talk to them.
Hubert was not attractive in general society, and he would soon have failed
to interest them at all had it not been for Emily. She was proud of her
influence over him, and for the first time showed a desire to go into