s ashamed.

Sec.22

She was frightened, too--never in her life had she imagined that she
could drift so far as she had drifted in those few seconds. She was
still trembling as she led the way back to the church. She could hear
him treading after her, and as she thought of him her heart smote her.
She felt as if she had hurt him--oh, what had she done to him? What had
she denied him? What had she given him to think?

As they climbed into the trap she could tell that he was sulking. He
looked at her half-defiantly from under his long lashes, and the corners
of his mouth were turned down like a child's. The drive home was
constrained and nearly silent. Joanna tried to talk about the grazings
they had broken at Yokes Court, in imitation of her own successful
grain-growing, about her Appeal to the High Court which was to be heard
that summer, and the motor-car she would buy if it was successful--but
it was obvious that they were both thinking of something else. For the
last part of the drive, from Brodnyx to Ansdore, neither of them spoke a
word.

The sunset was scattering the clouds ahead and filling the spaces with
lakes of gold. The dykes turned to gold, and a golden film lay over the
pastures and the reeds. The sun wheeled slowly north, and a huge,
shadowy horse and trap began to run beside them along the embankment of
the White Kemp Sewer. They turned up Ansdore's drive, now neatly
gravelled and gated, and a flood of light burst over the gables of the
house, pouring on Joanna as she climbed down over the wheel. She
required no help, and he knew it, but she felt his hands pressing her
waist; she started away, and she saw him laugh--mocking her. She nearly
cried.

The rest of that evening was awkward and unhappy. She had a vague
feeling in her heart that she had treated Albert badly, and yet ... the
strange thing was that she shrank from an explanation. It had always
been her habit to "have things out" on all occasions, and many a
misunderstanding had been strengthened thereby. But to-night she could
not bear the thought of being left alone with Albert. For one thing, she
was curiously vague as to the situation--was she to blame or was he? Had
she gone too far or not far enough? What was the matter, after all?
There was nothing to lay hold of.... Joanna was unused to this nebulous
state of mind; it made her head ache, and she was glad when the time
came to go to bed.

With a blessed sense of relief she felt