easing. She had to
think of her work, of Madam and her now frequent fits of illness, of
Gaga, of Miss Summers, of money, of Harry, of book-keeping, of clothes,
and of her mother. Mrs. Perce she rarely saw during this period, because
as Sally found new preoccupations she was bound to shed some of her old
ones. She thought very nicely of Mrs. Perce; but she had at the moment
no time for her. Mrs. Perce belonged to a passing stage, and had not yet
a niche in the new one. Toby she saw still more seldom than anybody; but
for Toby Sally's feelings underwent no obvious change. They developed as
her character matured, but they did not alter. She embraced him, as it
were, with her mind. Toby was somehow different from all the others. He
was a part of herself. She did not know why, but he stood alone,
whenever she thought of him, wonderfully strange, and strong, and
enduring, as much Toby as she was Sally. She did not fear him. In some
ways she despised him, for being so little pliable, so little supple in
his way of managing the world. But she adored him as a man, and as a
simple-minded baby who unerringly made her happy by his assurance, and
flighted her by behaving as though she was something belonging solely
to himself. So long as she was confident that about nine-tenths of her
life was outside the range of Toby's understanding, Sally enjoyed his
delusion. It gave her such a sense of superiority that she relished her
submission to his will in all trifles. She never felt that his absences
made him a stranger. Rather, she felt that they increased and
intensified her love and her desire for him. These at least were
unabated--more ardent than ever. And the absences certainly made Toby
all the more boisterously glad to see her whenever he returned from a
voyage, and more demonstratively affectionate when they were alone
together.

xii

Madame Gala had returned to work and Gaga had gone into the country by
the time Sally had joined her book-keeping class; and so that matter
seemed to be in abeyance. The ease with which the fabric of her newest
plan had been made to collapse discomfited Sally, who was always
impatient for quick results; but she did not abandon hope. She believed
in her star. She had seen very little of Gaga since their dinner. He had
avoided her, with some tokens of slight constraint, although his
greetings had been almost furtively reassuring. That alone would have
made her believe that he had not forgotten his