y of pretty Maggie drive him?

Though Sarah knew Majendie, that was more than she would undertake to
say. But the more she thought about it, the more she wondered; and the
more she wondered, the more she desired to know.

She wondered whether Mrs. Majendie had heard the report. From all she
could gather, it was hardly likely. Neither Mrs. Majendie nor her friends
mixed in those circles where it went the round. The scandal of the clubs
and of the Park would never reach her in the high seclusion of the house
in Prior Street.

Into that house Lady Cayley could not hope to penetrate except by guile.
Once admitted, straightforwardness would be her method. She must not
attempt to give the faintest social colour to her visit. She must take
for granted Mrs. Majendie's view of her impossibility. To be sure Mrs.
Majendie's prejudices were moral even more than social. But moral
prejudice could be overcome by cleverness working towards a formidable
moral effect.

She would call after six o'clock, an hour incompatible with any social
intention. An hour when she would probably find Mrs. Majendie alone.

She rested all afternoon. At five o'clock she fortified herself with
strong tea and brandy. Then she made an elaborate and thoughtful
toilette.

At forty-five Sarah's face was very large and horribly white. She
restored, discreetly, delicately, the vanished rose. The beautiful,
flower-like edges of her mouth were blurred. With a thin thread of rouge
she retraced the once perfect outline. Wrinkles had drawn in the corners
of the indomitable eyes, and ill-health had dulled their blue. That
saddest of all changes she repaired by hand-massage, pomade, and
belladonna. The somewhat unrefined exuberance of her figure she laced in
an inimitable corset. Next she arrayed herself in a suit of dark blue
cloth, simple and severely reticent; in a white silk blouse, simpler
still, sewn with innocent daisies, Maggie's handiwork; in a hat, gay in
form, austere in colour; and in gloves of immaculate whiteness.

Nobody could have possessed a more irreproachable appearance than Lady
Cayley when she set out for Prior Street.

At the door she gave neither name nor card. She announced herself as a
lady who desired to see Mrs. Majendie for a moment on important business.

Kate wondered a little, and admitted her. Ladies did call sometimes on
important business, ladies who approached Mrs. Majendie on missions of
charity; and these did not always giv