and it is, perhaps, not uncharitable to attribute Kate's apparent
avoidance of them as much to considerations of expediency as of
principle. At the same time, there was no coolness between Eugene and
Haddington, and when his guest presented a valid excuse and proposed
departure, Eugene met the suggestion with an obviously sincere
opposition. Sir Roderick really could not make out what was going on.
Now Sir Roderick disliked being puzzled; it conveyed a reflection on his
acuteness, and he therefore was a sharer in the perturbation of mind
that evidently afflicted some of his companions, in spite of their
decorous behavior. But contentment was not wanting in some hearts.
Morewood was happy in the pursuit of his art and in arguments with
Stafford; and Bob Territon had found refuge in an energetic attempt to
organize and train a Manor team to do battle with the village cricket
club, headed as it had been for thirty years past by the Rector.
Moreover, Stafford himself still seemed tranquil. It would have been
difficult for most men to fail to understand their true position in such
a case more fully than he, in spite of his usual penetration of vision,
had succeeded in doing. But he was now in a strange country, and the
landmarks of feeling whereby the experienced traveler on such paths can
learn and note, even if he cannot check, his descent, were to Stafford
unmeaning and empty of warning. Of course, he knew he liked Claudia's
society; he found her talk at once a change, a rest, and a stimulus; he
had even become aware that of all the people at the Manor, except his
old friend and host, she had for him the most interest and attraction;
perhaps he had even suffered at times that sense of vacancy of all the
chairs when her chair was vacant that should have told him of his state
if anything would. But he did not see; he was blind in this matter, even
as, say, Ayre or Morewood would have proved blind if called upon to
study and describe the mental process of a religious conversation. He
was yet far from realizing that an influence had entered his life in