this afternoon Uncle John called upon
me. I had half an hour's very pleasant talk with him: he told me that,
although his mother had not altered her opinion of me, Uncle Vincent and
Aunt Adela and himself considered that I had earned"--he smiled a
little--"forgiveness. He hoped that I would understand that--while my
grandmother was alive--I could not be invited to 104 Portland Place, but
that he thought that I would like to know that they had realized
my--well, improvement, and that he hoped that we would be friends. I
said that I should be delighted."

The Duchess spoke to him then, her voice shaking so that it was
difficult to catch her words.

"John--came--said that--to _you_?"

"Yes. It was a curious coincidence that to-day----"

Her eyes had dropped. She murmured to herself:

"John ... John ... Adela ... behind my back ... Adela ... Vincent----"

They were all silent. She sat there, her head down, leaning on her
hands, brooding. Her anger seemed to have departed, her fire, her fury
had fled: she was a very old woman--and the room was suddenly chilly.
Before her were Rachel and Breton: they faced the ancient enemy. But as
Rachel stood there, realizing that there had flashed between them the
climax of all their lives together, yes, and a climax of forces greater
and more powerful than anything that their own small histories could
contain, she had no sense of drama nor of revenge nor of any triumphant
victory. A little while before she had been almost insane with anger....
Now something had occurred. Rachel only knew that the three of
them--Roddy, Francis and herself--were young and immensely vigorous,
with all life before them; but that one day they would be old, as this
old woman, and would be deserted and sick and past anyone's need of
them.

"Oh! I wish we hadn't! I wish we hadn't!" she thought.

In that moment's silence they all might have heard the sound of the
soft, sharp click--the click that marked the supreme moment of their
relationship to the situation that had, for all of them, been so long
developing--

Breton surrendered Rachel, Roddy received her, and, beyond them all, the
Duchess definitely abandoned her world.

For them all, grouped there so closely together, the heart of their
relations the one to the other had been revealed to them.

Other dramas, other comedies, other tragedies--This had claimed its
moment and had passed....

After the silence the Duchess said, "My family--I no long