ff so terribly!"

Gregory got up, and looked shamefacedly at his knees.

"The knee is not what it used to be," he said.

Mrs. Pendyce smiled.

"You should keep your knees for Helen Bellow, Grig. I was always five
years older than you."

Gregory rumpled up his hair.

"Kneeling's out of fashion, but I thought in the country you wouldn't
mind!"

"You don't notice things, dear Grig. In the country it's still more out
of fashion. You wouldn't find a woman within thirty miles of here who
would like a man to kneel to her. We've lost the habit. She would think
she was being made fun of. We soon grow out of vanity!"

"In London," said Gregory, "I hear all women intend to be men; but in the
country I thought----"

"In the country, Grig, all women would like to be men, but they don't
dare to try. They trot behind."

As if she had been guilty of thoughts too insightful, Mrs. Pendyce
blushed.

Gregory broke out suddenly:

"I can't bear to think of women like that!"

Again Mrs. Pendyce smiled.

"You see, Grig dear, you are not married."

"I detest the idea that marriage changes our views, Margery; I loathe
it."

"Mind my daffodils!" murmured Mrs. Pendyce.

She was thinking all the time: 'That dreadful letter! What am I to do?'

And as though he knew her thoughts, Gregory said:

"I shall assume that Bellew will not defend the case. If he has a spark
of chivalry in him he will be only too glad to see her free. I will never
believe that any man could be such a soulless clod as to wish to keep her
bound. I don't pretend to understand the law, but it seems to me that
there's only one way for a man to act and after all Bellew's a gentleman.
You'll see that he will act like one!"

Mrs. Pendyce looked at the daffodil in her lap.

"I have only seen him three or four times, but it seemed to me, Grig,
that he was a man who might act in one way today and another tomorrow.
He is so very different from all the men about here."

"When it comes to the deep things of life," said Gregory, "one man is
much as another. Is there any man you know who would be so lacking in
chivalry as to refuse in these circumstances?"

Mrs. Pendyce looked at him with a confused expression--wonder,
admiration, irony, and even fear, struggled in her eyes.

"I can think of dozens."

Gregory clutched his forehead.

"Margery," he said, "I hate your cynicism. I don't know where you get it
from."

"I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to