h what temper would she have
heard the lady in her aunt's drawing-room, who was of opinion that she
should "stay at home and mind the baby"? Education had made her an
individual; she was nurtured into the disease of thought This child of
hers showed in the frail tenure on which it held its breath how unfit
the mother was for fulfilling her natural functions. Both parents
seemed in admirable health, yet their offspring was a poor, delicate,
nervous creature, formed for exquisite sensibility to every evil of
life. Cecily saw this, and partly understood it; her heart was heavy
through the long anxious nights passed in watching by the cradle.

When they returned to London, Reuben at first made a pretence of
resuming his work. He went now and then to the reading-room, and at
home shut himself up in the study; but he no longer voluntarily talked
of his task. Cecily knew what had happened; the fatal lack of
perseverance had once more declared itself. For some weeks she
refrained from inviting his confidence, but of necessity they spoke
together at last. Reuben could no longer disguise the ennui under which
he was labouring. Instead of sitting in the library, he loitered about
the drawing-room; he was often absent through the whole day, and Cecily
knew that he had not been at the Museum.

"I'm at a stand-still," he admitted, when the opportunity came. "I
don't see my way so clearly as at first. I must take up some other
subject for a time, and rest my mind."

They had no society worth speaking of. Mrs. Lessingham had supplied
them with a few introductions, but these people were now out of town.
Earlier in the year neither of them had cared to be assiduous in
discharging social obligations, with the natural result that little
notice was taken of them in turn. Reuben had resumed two or three of
his old connections; a bachelor acquaintance now and then came to dine;
but this was not the kind of society they needed. Impossible for them
to utter the truth, and confess that each other's companionship was no
longer all-sufficient. Had Reuben been veritably engaged in serious
work, Cecily might have gone on for a long time with her own studies
before she wearied for lack of variety and friendly voices; as it was,
the situation became impossible.

"Wouldn't you like to belong to a club?" she one day asked.

And Reuben caught at the suggestion. Not long ago, it would have caused
him to smile rather scornfully.

Cecily had lost her