People talked in whispers of conscience, the advantages and the
disadvantages of its possession, and the consensus of opinion was of its
being quite appropriate in regard to a clergyman, and that it was not
altogether out of place on the part of a spinster, provided that she had
counteracting virtues; but, on the whole, it was perhaps wiser to leave
the conscience with the Nonconformists.

Phyllis did not see George Holland until she had got halfway up the
first of Mrs. Linton's rooms. She did not hear her friend Ella say to
someone, in a low voice of apprehension:

"For Heaven's sake, keep them apart! They are just the sort of people
to greet each other quite cordially; and if they do, no one here will
believe that their engagement is off. People here don't understand how a
delicate conscience works."

That was what Ella murmured to a man who had been invited in order that
he might make himself generally useful. She gave him his instructions
too late, however. Before she had quite completed her greeting of
Phyllis, Mr. Holland was beside them.

He had not forced himself forward with any measure of persistency; no
one seemed to notice any movement on his part until he had shaken
hands with Phyllis, and was chatting with her and Mrs. Linton quite
pleasantly--much too pleasantly for a man with a conscience, someone
said later in the afternoon; but that was someone who wanted to talk to
Phyllis himself.

People watched her when she suffered herself to be gradually withdrawn
from the center of the room to a seat that chanced to be vacant, just