hat morning also, when she had spoken
her mind on the project of the gates.

Well, now, he had to go in and tell her that the deed was done, and
the park was closed.

He crept round to a side door, nervous lest she should perceive him
from the library, and made Forest get him some lunch. Then he hung
about the hall smoking. It was ridiculous--nonsensical--but he
admitted to himself that he shrank from facing her.

At last a third cigarette put the requisite courage into him, and he
walked slowly to the library. As he entered the room, Elizabeth rose
from her chair.

She stood there waiting for his orders, or his report--her quiet
eyes upon him.

He told himself not to be a fool, and throwing away his cigarette,
he walked up to her, and said in a tone of bravado:

'Well, the barricades are up!'

CHAPTER VIII

The Squire having shot his bolt, looked anxiously for the effect of
it.

Elizabeth, apparently, took it calmly. She was standing with one
hand on the table behind her, and the autumn sun streaming in
through the western windows caught the little golden curls on her
temples, and the one or two small adornments that she habitually
wore, especially a Greek coin--a gold stater--hanging on a slender
chain round her neck. In the Squire's eyes, the stately figure in
plain black, with the brilliant head and hands, had in some way
gathered into itself the significance of the library. All the
background of books, with its pale and yet rich harmony of tone, the
glass cases with their bronzes and terra-cottas, the statues, the
papers on the table, the few flowers that were never wanting to
Elizabeth's corner, the taste with which the furniture had been
re-arranged, the general elegance and refinement of the big room in
fact, since Elizabeth had reduced it from chaos to order, were now
related to her rather than to him. He could not now think of the
room without her. She had become in this short time so markedly its
presiding spirit. 'Let there be order and beauty!' she had said,
instead of dirt and confusion; and the order and beauty were there.

But the presiding spirit was now surveying him, with eyes that
seemed to have been watchfully withdrawn, under puckered brows.

'I don't understand,' said Elizabeth. 'You have fastened up the
gates?'

'I have,' said the Squire jocularly. 'Mrs. Perley believes the
Committee will bring a tank! That would be a sight worth seeing.'

'You really want to stop them