green lines of the hedges, of the swelling
ploughland, and of the mild blue sky, which served her, after the first
five minutes, for a pastoral background to the drama of human life; and
then she thought of a cottage garden, with the flash of yellow daffodils
against blue water; and what with the arrangement of these different
prospects, and the shaping of two or three lovely phrases, she did not
notice that the young people in the carriage were almost silent. Henry,
indeed, had been included against his wish, and revenged himself by
observing Katharine and Rodney with disillusioned eyes; while Katharine
was in a state of gloomy self-suppression which resulted in complete
apathy. When Rodney spoke to her she either said "Hum!" or assented
so listlessly that he addressed his next remark to her mother. His
deference was agreeable to her, his manners were exemplary; and when
the church towers and factory chimneys of the town came into sight, she
roused herself, and recalled memories of the fair summer of 1853, which
fitted in harmoniously with what she was dreaming of the future.

CHAPTER XVIII

But other passengers were approaching Lincoln meanwhile by other roads
on foot. A county town draws the inhabitants of all vicarages, farms,
country houses, and wayside cottages, within a radius of ten miles at
least, once or twice a week to its streets; and among them, on this
occasion, were Ralph Denham and Mary Datchet. They despised the roads,
and took their way across the fields; and yet, from their appearance, it
did not seem as if they cared much where they walked so long as the way
did not actually trip them up. When they left the Vicarage, they had
begun an argument which swung their feet along so rhythmically in time
with it that they covered the ground at over four miles an hour, and saw
nothing of the hedgerows, the swelling plowland, or the mild blue sky.
What they saw were the Houses of Parliament and the Government Offices
in Whitehall. They both belonged to the class which is conscious of
having lost its birthright in these great structures and is seeking to
build another kind of lodging for its own notion of law and government.
Purposely, perhaps, Mary did not agree with Ralph; she loved to feel her
mind in conflict with his, and to be certain that he spared her female
judgment no ounce of his male muscularity. He seemed to argue as
fiercely with her as if she were his brother. They were alike, however,
in bel