re matters any better with Pamela, who had cried off her
hospital work in order to pack for Desmond. Elizabeth, seeing her
come downstairs with an armful of khaki shirts to be marked, offered
assistance--almost timidly. But Pamela's 'Thank you, but I'd rather
not trouble you--I can do it quite well'--was so frosty that
Elizabeth could only retire--bewildered--to the library, where she
and the Squire gave a morning's work to the catalogue, and never
said a word of farm or timber.

But the Squire worked irritably, finding fault with a number of
small matters, and often wandering away into the house to see what
Desmond was doing. During these intervals Elizabeth would sit, pen
in hand, staring absently into the dripping garden and the park
beaten by a cold rain. The future began to seem to her big with
events and perplexity.

Then with the evening came the boy's leave-taking; full of affection
towards his father and sister, and markedly chilly in the case of
Elizabeth. When the station taxi had driven off, Elizabeth--with
that cold touch of the boy's fingers still tingling on her
hand--turned from the front door to see Pamela disappearing to the
schoolroom, and the Squire fidgeting with an evening paper which the
taxi had brought him from the station.

Elizabeth suddenly noticed the shaking of the paper, over which only
the crest of white hair showed. Too bad of Pamela to have gone off
without a word to her father! Was it sympathy with the Squire, or
resentment on her own account, that made Elizabeth go up to
him?--though at a respectful distance.

'Shall we finish the bit of translation we began this morning, if
you're not busy?' she said gently. It was very rarely now that she
was able to do any classical work after the mornings.

The Squire threw down the newspaper, and strode on before her to the
library without a word. Elizabeth followed. Rain and darkness had
been shut out. The wood fire glowed on the hearth, and its ruddy
light was on the face of the Nike, and its solemn outstretched
wings. All the apparatus of their common work was ready, the work
that both loved. Elizabeth felt a sudden, passionate drawing towards
this man twenty years older than herself, which seemed to correspond
to the new and smarting sense of alienation from the twins and their
raw, unjust youth. What had been the reason for their behaviour to
her that day?--what had she done? She was conscious of long weeks of
effort, in Pamela's case