ndolen was silly and weak, but that she was not honourable? Had he
suspected something of the kind before he received that letter? Wasn't
it a suspicion of the kind that had made him speak as he did in the
drawing-room after they had returned from Christ Church? Might he not
have been contented with Gwendolen if she had been straight and true,
however weak and foolish? Was he the sort of man who demands sympathy
and understanding from friends, men and women, but something very
different from a wife? Was the Warden one of those men who prefer a wife
to be shallow because they shrink from any permanent demand being made
upon their moral nature or their intellect? Perhaps the Warden craved a
wife who was thoughtless, and, choosing Gwendolen, was disappointed in
her, solely because he found she was not trustworthy. That suspicion was
a bitter one. Was it an unjust suspicion?

As May walked, the river beside her slipped along slowly under the
melancholy willows. The surface of the water was laden with fallen
leaves and the wreckage of an almost forgotten summer. It was strangely
sad, this river!

May turned away and began walking back to the Lodgings. There was a
deepening sunshine in the west, a glow was coming into the sky. Oh, the
sadness of that glorious sunset!

May was glad to hide away from it in the narrow streets. She was glad to
get back to the court and to enter the darkened house, and yet there was
no rest for her there. Soon, very soon, she would say good-bye to this
calm secluded home and go out alone into the wilderness!

She walked straight to her room and took off her things, and then went
into Lady Dashwood's room. Louise was arranging a little table for tea
between the bed and the windows.

"Well!" cried Lady Dashwood. "So you have had a good walk!"

"It was a lovely afternoon," said May. She looked out of the window and
could see the colour of the sunset reflected on the roof opposite.

Lady Dashwood watched Louise putting a cloth on the table, and remarked
that "poor Jim" would be having tea all alone!

"I think the Warden is out," said May, as she stood at the window.

"Oh!" exclaimed Lady Dashwood, but at that moment the doctor was ushered
into the room. He apologised for coming so late in the day, he had been
pressed with work. "I'm perfectly well," said Lady Dashwood; "I don't
need a doctor, you are simply wasted on me. I can come down to dinner."

There was no doubt that she was better. Th