d of a
shapeless misgiving. This little centre of trouble in the mind was
easily enough accounted for. Granted that Thyrza could live quite well
without Walter Egremont, it was none the less true that, in losing him,
she lost a certainty of happiness--and does happiness grow on every
thicket, that one can afford to pass it lightly? The fear lest Egremont
should reap misery from such a marriage, and cause misery in turn, was
no longer seriously to be entertained; it could not now have justified
interference, had there been nothing else that did so. Mrs. Ormonde
could not rob Thyrza thus without grieving.

But it was the happiness of two against that of one; and, however
monstrous the dogma that one should be sacrificed even to a million,
such a consideration is wont to have weight with us when we are arguing
with our conscience and getting somewhat the worst of it. Mrs. Ormonde
felt sure that Annabel Newthorpe would not now reject Walter if he
again offered himself; many things had given proof of that. Annabel
knew that Thyrza had thoroughly outlived her trouble; she knew,
moreover, that Egremont had never in reality compromised himself in
regard to her. In her eyes, then, the latter was rather the victim of
misfortune than himself culpable. If Walter eventually--of course, some
time must pass--again sought to win her, without doubt he would tell
her everything, and Annabel would find nothing in the story to make a
perpetual barrier between them. The marriage which Mrs. Ormonde so
strongly desired would still come about.

On the other hand, in spite of arguments that seemed irresistible, she
could not dismiss the question: Does Thyrza know anything of Egremont's
by-gone passion? That she could know anything of the compact which had
run its two years, was of course impossible; but Walter's persistence
in urging that, if once she had learnt his love for her, that, together
with the circumstances of her life, would make sufficient ground for
hope--this persistence had impressed Mrs. Ormonde. In a second long
conversation the subject had been gone over, point by point, for a
second time. 'If harm come,' Mrs. Ormonde said to herself, 'I am indeed
to blame, for, though his wishes oppose it, I had but to show doubt and
he would have taken the manly part and have gone to Thyrza.' She did
not seek to defend herself by saying--as she might well have done--that
throughout he encouraged her in her resistance. He was of firmer
subs