Augustina looked at him in bewilderment. Why, it was only yesterday that
Laura disliked and despised him, and that Alan hardly ever spoke when her
stepdaughter was there. It was utterly incomprehensible to her. Was it
another punishment from Heaven for her own wilful and sacrilegious
marriage? As she thought of the new conditions and relations that were
coming upon them all--the disapproval of friends, the danger to her
brother's Catholic life, the transformation of her own ties to Laura, her
feeble soul lost itself in fear. Secretly, she said to herself, with the
natural weariness of coming age:

"Perhaps I shall die--before it happens."




BOOK IV




CHAPTER I

Augustina was sitting in the garden with Father Bowles. Their chairs were
placed under a tall Scotch fir, which spread its umbrella top between
them and the sun. All around, the old garden was still full and flowery.
For it was mid-September, and fine weather.

Mrs. Fountain was lying on a sort of deck-chair, and had as usual a
number of little invalid appliances about her. But in truth, as Father