after him. 'Jane is right,' she said to herself, 'he
cares most for me. Poor Arthur! I must stand alone, ready to support him
when his toy fails him.'

CHAPTER 4

They read botanic treatises
And works of gardeners through there,
And methods of transplanting trees
To look as if they grew there.
--A. TENNYSON

Theodora awoke to sensations of acute grief. Her nature had an almost
tropical fervour of disposition; and her education having given her few
to love, her ardent affections had fastened upon Arthur with a vehemence
that would have made the loss of the first place in his love painful,
even had his wife been a person she respected and esteemed, but when she
saw him, as she thought, deluded and thrown away on this mere beauty,
the suffering was intense.

The hope Jane Gardner had given her, of his return to her, when he
should have discovered his error, was her first approach to comfort, and
seemed to invigorate her to undergo the many vexations of the day, in
the sense of neglect, and the sight of his devotion to his bride.

She found that, much as she had dreaded it, she had by no means realized
the discomposure she secretly endured when they met at breakfast, and
he, remembering her repulse, was cold--she was colder; and Violet, who,
in the morning freshness, was growing less timid, shrank back into awe
of her formal civility.

In past days it had been a complaint that Arthur left her no time to
herself. Now she saw the slight girlish figure clinging to his arm as
they crossed the lawn, and she knew they were about to make the tour of
their favourite haunts, she could hardly keep from scolding Skylark back
when even he deserted her to run after them; and only by a very strong
effort could she prevent her mind from pursuing their steps, while
she was inflicting a course of Liebig on Miss Gardner, at the especial
instance of that lady, who, whatever hobby her friends were riding,
always mounted behind.

Luncheon was half over, when the young pair came in, flushed with
exercise and animation; Arthur talking fast about the covers and the
game, and Violet in such high spirits, that she volunteered a history of
their trouble with Skylark, and 'some dear little partridges that could
not get out of a cart rut.'

In the afternoon Miss Gardner, 'always so interested in schools and
village children,' begged to be shown 'Theodora's little scholars,' and
walked with