Yet,is not most of our life up to our thirties
imitation? It is the mostcharitable interpretation of your actions, he said at last.
I asked that,if he called again, I be allowed to see him. Itdoesnt explain why you
let him go free. I knew, of course, and you have divined, thatthere was never
anything of the kind.
You, more than anyone else,should have enlightened
me.
Burt, of course,had risen and was standing in the
attitude of a subaltern before asuperior officer. But thatconversation stood
suddenly out with the greatest distinctness andin considerable detail. Do you wish
me to tellyou in detail how I found out? When I had joined her in the frontseat, she
drove up the hill.
He tried to get in; butagain she told him to wait.
>From the start, there was trouble with the car; but they got outinto the open
country east of here.
At last she asked him to come down to Langholm.
Tell me, she said, how Ruth came to go to Europe.
From the start, there was trouble with the car; but
they got outinto the open country east of here. I think, he said, this is a case for
you to dealwith. No, no, Lady Clark exclaimed and repeated, Oh, no! Who but a great
man would, without a momentshesitation, have acted on it?
Ill tell you why, the father said, his voice
trembling. No doubt you acted, at that time, with the best of
intentions.
It is the fathers lot, I suppose, to betried,
judged, and condemned by his son. Mr Clark was not in; so I toldMr Burt to sit down
and wait in the hall.
That had been my life till I told your
mother.
I never made up my mind, as you say, to any
suchthing. The mill at Arbala wasbuilt for a single purpose; and that purpose has
been served.
The men, feeling her hostility, had laughed. I
believe her instructors suspected her ofoutright immorality.
The surprising thing was that it was pure
chancewhich placed the man within my reach.
He was a tall,flat-breasted man, cavernous when he
stood in front of you.
Suddenly, a spasm passing over his face, heturned
to a chair and sat down.
CHAPTER XVIIIThe senator stayed in bed only in
order to remain undisturbed.
I am not so sure of that; they understood each
other. So shegot out, too, and poked her finger under the hood, at random. He
stepped up on the running board, by her side, and tried to kissher.
I tell you this in order to explain Mr Clarks
reaction when hecame in. He tried to get in; butagain she told him to wait.