So to the Bar in due time Henry Thresk was called; and when something
did happen to his father he was trained for the battle. A bank failed and
the failure ruined and killed old Mr. Thresk. From the ruins just enough
was scraped to keep his widow, and one or two offers of employment were
made to Henry Thresk.

But he was tenacious as he was secret. He refused them, and with the
help of pupils, journalism and an occasional spell as an election
agent, he managed to keep his head above water until briefs began
slowly to come in.

So far then Mrs. Thresk's stinging speeches seemed to have been
justified. But at the age of twenty-eight he took a holiday. He went down
for a month into Sussex, and there the ordered scheme of his life was
threatened. It stood the attack; and again it is possible to plead in its
favour with a good show of argument. But the attack, nevertheless, brings
into light another point of view.

Prudence, for instance, the disputant might urge, is all very well in the
ordinary run of life, but when the great moments come conduct wants
another inspiration. Such an one would consider that holiday with a
thought to spare for Stella Derrick, who during its passage saw much of
Henry Thresk. The actual hour when the test came happened on one of the
last days of August.




CHAPTER II