having disappeared the night before without taking leave of Mrs.
Churchley. Then she saw he wished to be intensely kind, to make
every allowance, to conciliate and console her. He knew she had
heard from Godfrey, and he got up and kissed her. He told her as
quickly as possible, to have it over, stammering a little, with an
"I've a piece of news for you that will probably shock you," yet
looking even exaggeratedly grave and rather pompous, to inspire the
respect he didn't deserve. When he kissed her she melted, she burst
into tears. He held her against him, kissing her again and again,
saying tenderly "Yes, yes, I know, I know." But he didn't know else
he couldn't have done it. Beatrice and Muriel came in, frightened
when they saw her crying, and still more scared when she turned to
them with words and an air that were terrible in their comfortable
little lives: "Papa's going to be married; he's going to marry Mrs.
Churchley!" After staring a moment and seeing their father look as
strange, on his side, as Adela, though in a different way, the
children also began to cry, so that when the servants arrived with
tea and boiled eggs these functionaries were greatly embarrassed with
their burden, not knowing whether to come in or hang back. They all
scraped together a decorum, and as soon as the things had been put on
table the Colonel banished the men with a glance. Then he made a
little affectionate speech to Beatrice and Muriel, in which he
described Mrs. Churchley as the kindest, the most delightful of
women, only wanting to make them happy, only wanting to make HIM
happy, and convinced that he would be if they were and that they
would be if he was.

"What do such words mean?" Adela asked herself. She declared
privately that they meant nothing, but she was silent, and every one
was silent, on account of the advent of Miss Flynn the governess,