' said Sibyl, when the servant had withdrawn.
'He'll go backwards and forwards, you know. I don't think he'll have
very much to do practically with the business; but just at first he
likes to see what's going on.'

'I hope it will prosper.'

'Oh, no doubt it will. It was a very good idea.'

Sibyl spoke as though she had never contemplated the possibilities
which were in Alma's mind. Her husband, as Alma knew from Rolfe, was in
anything but a sanguine mood; he saw his position in all its gravity,
and could hardly rest for fear that this latest enterprise should not
succeed. Sibyl, however, enjoyed her lunch with complete tranquillity.
She had the air of being responsible for nothing.

'I'm not at all sorry we went away for a time. Travelling suits Hugh;
it has done him a great deal of good. I believe he would have liked to
stay in Tasmania; but he saw it wouldn't do for me, and the good fellow
could think of nothing else but my comfort. I have a great admiration
for Hugh,' she added, with a smile, not exactly of superiority or
condescension, but of approval distinct from tenderness. 'Of course, I
always had, and it has increased since I've travelled with him. He
shows to far more advantage on a ship than in a drawing-room. On this
last voyage we had some very bad weather, and then he was at his best.
I admired him immensely!'

'I can quite imagine how he would be,' said Alma.

'And how glad I was when I heard you had married his best friend! It
had crossed my mind more than once. Perhaps you don't remember--you
didn't notice it at the time--but I ventured a discreet hint before we
parted. You couldn't have done a more sensible thing, Alma.'

Though quite willing to believe this, Alma, for some reason, did not
care to hear it thus asserted. The manner of the remark, for all its
friendliness, reminded her that marriage had signified her defeat, the
end of high promises, brave aspirations.

'I couldn't tell you how it happened,' she said, with a little
awkwardness. 'And I dare say you would say the same about your own
marriage.'

'Of course So would every woman. One never does know how it happens'

And Sibyl laughed with quiet merriment which had a touch of cynicism.
Alma had not yet spoken of the impulse which carried her away to the
little house in Carnarvonshire, to the life of noble simplicity and
calm retirement, and she had no disposition now to touch on the matter.
Even in her early letters to Sybil not m