"Why is it out of order? Hicks is a fool. Ask Lady Thryng to wait. No,
pack my bag and send my boxes on after me as they are. I'll speak to her
myself."

He threw off his jacket, thrust his cap in his pocket, and dashed away,
pulling on his coat as he went, holding the crushed pages of the letter
in his hand. He overtook his mother as she was walking down the terrace.

"Mother, wait," he cried, "I'm going with you. Where's Laura?"

"She was coming. I can't think what is delaying her."

David hurried on to the carriage. "Get in, mother, I'll take her place.
Get in, get in. We must be off."

"David, are you out of your head?"

"Yes, mother. Drive on, drive on. I must catch the first train for
Liverpool--I may catch it. Put the horses through, John. Make them
sweat," he said, leaning out of the carriage window.

"Explain yourself, David. Are you in trouble?"

"Yes, mother. Wait a little."

She looked at her son and saw his mouth set, his eyes stern and
anguished, and she placed her hand gently on his as they were being
whirled away. "Your bags are not in, David, if you are going a journey."

"Clark will follow with them, and I can wait in Liverpool, if I can only
catch this boat."

"David, explain. If you can't, then let me read this," she pleaded,
touching the letter in his hand; but he clutched it the tighter.

"No one may read this, not even you." He pressed the crumpled sheets to
his lips, then folded them carefully away. "It's just that I've been a
cad--a fiendish cad and an idiot in one. I thought myself a man of high
ideals-- My God, I am a cad!"

"David, you sacrificed yourself to ideals, but you are still a boy and
have much to learn. When men try to set new laws for themselves and get
out of the ordinary, they are more than apt to make fools of themselves,
and may do positive harm. What is it now?"

"Can't you get over the ground any faster, John?" he cried, thrusting
his head again out of the window. "These horses are overfed and lazy,
like all the English people. Why was the machine out of order? Hicks is
a fool--I say!" He put his hand inside his collar and pulled and worked
it loose. "We are all hidebound here. Even our clothes choke us."

"David, tell me the truth."

"I am telling you the truth. I am a cad, I say. And you--you, too, are a
part of the system that makes cads of us all."

"I am your mother, David," said Lady Thryng, reprovingly.

"You have reason to be proud of your son! O