ssed all his conversation. They chatted without much
interruption from the business of the table; for Jane, despite her
amplitude, had a small appetite, and was fearful of growing fat; whilst
Trefusis was systematically abstemious. Sir Charles was unusually
silent. He was afraid to talk about art, lest he should be contradicted
by Trefusis, who, he already felt, cared less and perhaps knew more
about it than he. Having previously commented to Agatha on the beauty of
the ripening spring, and inquired whether her journey had fatigued her,
he had said as much as he could think of at a first meeting. For her
part, she was intent on Trefusis, who, though he must know, she thought,
that they were all hostile to him except Jane, seemed as confident now
as when he had befooled her long ago. That thought set her teeth on
edge. She did not doubt the sincerity of her antipathy to him even when
she detected herself in the act of protesting inwardly that she was not
glad to meet him again, and that she would not speak to him. Gertrude,
meanwhile, was giving short answers to Erskine and listening to
Trefusis. She had gathered from the domestic squabbles of the last
few days that Lady Brandon, against her husband's will, had invited a
notorious demagogue, the rich son of a successful cotton-spinner, to
visit the Beeches. She had made up her mind to snub any such man. But on
recognizing the long-forgotten Smilash, she had been astonished, and
had not known what to do. So, to avoid doing anything improper, she had
stood stilly silent and done nothing, as the custom of English ladies in
such cases is. Subsequently, his unconscious self-assertion had wrought
with her as with the others, and her intention of snubbing him had faded
into the limbo of projects abandoned without trial. Erskine alone was
free from the influence of the intruder. He wished himself elsewhere;
but beside Gertrude the presence or absence of any other person troubled
him very little.

"How are the Janseniuses?" said Trefusis, suddenly turning to Agatha.

"They are quite well, thank you," she said in measured tones.

"I met John Jansenius in the city lately. You know Jansenius?" he added
parenthetically to Sir Charles. "Cotman's bank--the last Cotman died
out of the firm before we were born. The Chairman of the Transcanadian
Railway Company."

"I know the name. I am seldom in the city."

"Naturally," assented Trefusis; "for who would sadden himself by pushing
his