inscrutable and incommunicative and erect in a wisdom that was founded
upon telegrams--you couldn't speak to the butler but he pulled one out
of his pocket. It was a house of telegrams; they crossed each other a
dozen times an hour, coming and going, and Selina in particular lived in
a cloud of them. Laura had but vague ideas as to what they were all
about; once in a while, when they fell under her eyes, she either failed
to understand them or judged them to be about horses. There were an
immense number of horses, in one way and another, in Mrs. Berrington's
life. Then she had so many friends, who were always rushing about like
herself and making appointments and putting them off and wanting to know
if she were going to certain places or whether she would go if they did
or whether she would come up to town and dine and 'do a theatre.' There
were also a good many theatres in the existence of this busy lady. Laura
remembered how fond their poor father had been of telegraphing, but it
was never about the theatre: at all events she tried to give her sister
the benefit or the excuse of heredity. Selina had her own opinions,
which were superior to this--she once remarked to Laura that it was
idiotic for a woman to write--to telegraph was the only way not to get
into trouble. If doing so sufficed to keep a lady out of it Mrs.
Berrington's life should have flowed like the rivers of Eden.

III

Laura, as soon as her brother-in-law had been in the room a moment, had
a particular fear; she had seen him twice noticeably under the influence
of liquor; she had not liked it at all and now there were some of the
same signs. She was afraid the children would discover them, or at any
rate Miss Steet, and she felt the importance of not letting him stay in
the room. She thought it almost a sign that he should have come there at
all--he was so rare an apparition. He looked at her very hard, smiling
as if to say, 'No, no, I'm not--not if you think it!' She perceived with
relief in a moment that he was not very bad, and liquor disposed him
apparently to tenderness, for he indulged in an interminable kissing of
Geordie and Ferdy, during which Miss Steet turned away delicately,
looking out of the window. The little boys asked him no questions to
celebrate his return--they only announced that they were going to learn
botany, to which he replied: 'Are you, really? Why, I never did,' and
looked askance at the governess, blushing as if to e