,--trying to please and win her; and of a
constant tender interest in Desmond, which had never missed an
opportunity of doing or suggesting something he might like--all for
this! She must have offended them she supposed in some way; how,
she could not imagine. But her mood was sore; and, self-controlled
as she was, her pulse raced.

Here, however, she was welcome, she was needed; she could distract
and soothe a bitterness of soul best measured by the Squire's most
unusual taciturnity. No railing at the Government or the war,
not a fling even at the 'd----d pedant, Chicksands!' or 'The
Bubbly-jocks,' as he liked to call the members of the County War
Committee. Elizabeth put a text of Aristophanes--the _Pax_--into his
hands, and drew her table near to him, waiting his pleasure. There
was a lamp behind him which fell on her broad, white brow, her
waiting eyes and hand, and all the friendly intelligence of her
face. The Squire began haltingly, lost his place, almost threw the
book away; but she cheered him on, admired this phrase, delicately
amended that, till the latent passion had gripped him, and he was
soon in full swing, revelling in all the jests and topicalities of
the play, where the strikers and pacifists, the profiteers, the
soldiers and munition workers of two thousand odd years ago, fight
and toil, prate and wrangle and scheme, as eager and as alive as
their descendants of to-day. Soon his high, tempestuous laugh rang
out; Elizabeth's gentler mirth answering. Sometimes there was a
dispute about a word or a rendering; she would put up her own view,
with obstinacy, so that he might have the pleasure of knocking it
down. And all through there was the growing sense of comradeship, of
mutual understanding, which, in their classical work at least, had
been always present for Elizabeth, since her first acquaintance with
her strange employer.

When she rose, reluctantly, at the sound of the dressing-bell, the
Squire paced up and down while she put her books and papers away.
Then as she was going, he turned abruptly--

'I told Forest to order the _Times_--will you see he does it?'

'Certainly.'

'I loathe all newspapers,' he said sombrely. 'If we must go to the
devil, I don't want to know too much about it. But still--'

She waited a moment, but as nothing more came she was leaving the
room, when he added--

'And don't forget the timber business to-morrow afternoon. Tell Dell
to meet us in Cross Wood.'