!"

He was not. Jenny turned away. As she passed me, she gave me an odd sort
of smile, amused, satisfied, just a trifle--the least trifle--scornful.
"Success number one!" she whispered. "But it's just as well that I'm not
a vain woman, Austin!"

"You could undo it all in ten minutes if you liked."

Jenny's smile broadened a little--and her eyes confessed.

CHAPTER XXI

NATHAN AND DAVID

The state of affairs at Fillingford Manor must have been profoundly
uncomfortable. The father and his sister banned and boycotted Breysgate;
the son spent there every hour of his leisure--he had much now, for the
Parliament session was over--and made small secret of the fact that he
cared very little to be anywhere else. Yet care came with him; he had
more than a lover's proverbial moodiness. He never spoke of his home; it
was the silence of conscious guilt; at Fillingford Manor, no doubt, he
avoided all mention of us. More than once he took refuge at Hingston and
paid his visits from there in company with his host; it is not probable
that Fillingford Manor was deceived by this maneuver, but the daily
strain of awkwardness was avoided. Dormer was complaisant. That young
man had sharp eyes; he soon began to be at least very doubtful whether
he need fear Lacey as a rival; when the two were at Breysgate together,
it was Dormer's society now that Jenny sought. She would pair off with
him, leaving Margaret and Lacey together. He took from this some
encouragement, but he had also a lurking fear that Jenny was angling for
Fillingford again, hoping some day to get at him through his son. He
would make allusions, in Lacey's absence, to Fillingford's notorious
obstinacy in all matters--how that he never changed his mind, was never
open to reason, never forgot nor forgave. The more open hints were
bestowed on me--for transmission to Jenny; the more covert he risked
conveying to her direct. She would agree with a smile of resignation,
and redouble her graciousness to Dormer. Yet the graciousness had
limits. She kept him at his distance--eager, yet hesitating, and fearful
to take the plunge. She had need of him still for a while longer; under
the cover he afforded she was gradually, dexterously, unobtrusively,
sheering off from Lacey.

The operation needed skill and pertinacity; for at first the young man
resisted it vigorously. The more delicately she worked, the less
conscious was he that she was working at all. Her avoidance of him