of your own
heart. The sorrow to which it will lead you is the only _joy_ that
remains to you."

Suddenly she looked round her little room with a rush of tenderness. The
windows were open to the evening and the shouts of children playing in
the courtyard came floating up. A bowl of Mellor roses scented the air;
the tray for her simple meal stood ready, and beside it a volume of "The
Divine Comedy," one of her mother's very rare gifts to her, in her
motherless youth--for of late she had turned thirstily to poetry. There
was a great peace and plainness about it all; and, besides, touches of
beauty--tokens of the soul. Her work spoke in it; called to her;
promised comfort and ennobling. She thought with yearning, too, of her
parents; of the autumn holiday she was soon to spend with them. Her
heart went out--sorely--to all the primal claims upon it.

* * * * *

Nevertheless, clear as was the inner resolution, the immediate future
filled her with dread. Her ignorance of herself--her excitable
folly--had given Wharton rights which her conscience admitted. He would
not let her go without a struggle, and she must face it.

As to the incidents which had happened during the fortnight--Louis
Craven's return, and the scandal of the "People's Banking Company"--they
had troubled and distressed her; but it would not be true to say that
they had had any part in shaping her slow determination. Louis Craven
was sore and bitter. She was very sorry for him; and his reports of the
Damesley strikers made her miserable. But she took Wharton's "leaders"
in the _Clarion_ for another equally competent opinion on the same
subject; and told herself that she was no judge. As for the Company
scandal, she had instantly and proudly responded to the appeal of his
letter, and put the matter out of her thoughts, till at least he should
give his own account. So much at any rate she owed to the man who had
stood by her through the Hurd trial. Marcella Boyce would not readily
believe in his dishonour! She did not in fact believe it. In spite of
later misgivings, the impression of his personality, as she had first
conceived it, in the early days at Mellor, was still too strong.

No--rather--she had constantly recollected throughout the day what was
going on in Parliament. These were for him testing and critical hours,
and she felt a wistful sympathy. Let him only rise to his part--take up
his great task.

*