ld not commit was
matrimony.

Straker saw that very plainly. He wondered whether Miss Tarrant
would see it, too, and if she did whether it would make any
difference in her method.

It was very clear to Straker that Miss Tarrant was considering
Furnival, as she had considered him, as she had considered young
Reggy Lawson, as she had considered Mr. Higginson, who was not so
young. As for Reggy and his successor, she had done with them. All
that could be known of their fatuity she knew. Perhaps they had
never greatly interested her. But she was interested in Laurence
Furnival. She told Straker that he was the most amusing man of her
acquaintance. She was, Straker noticed, perpetually aware of him.
All Monday morning, in the motor, Miss Tarrant in front with
Brocklebank, Furnival with Mrs. Viveash, and Straker behind, it was
an incessant duel between Furnival's eyes and the eyes that Miss
Tarrant had in the back of her head. All Monday afternoon she had
him at her heels, at her elbow. With every gesture she seemed to
point to him and say: "Look at this little animal I've caught. Did
you ever see such an amusing little animal?"

She was quite aware that it was an animal, the creature she had
captured and compelled to follow her; it might hide itself now and
then, but it never failed to leap madly forward at her call. The
animal in Furnival, so simple, so undisguised, and so spontaneous,
was what amused her.

Its behavior that Monday after tea on the terrace was one of the
most disconcerting things that had occurred at Amberley. You could
see that Mrs. Viveash couldn't bear it, that she kept looking away,
that Brocklebank didn't know where to look, and that even Fanny was
perturbed.

As for Mr. Higginson, it was altogether too much for him and his
honesty. He was visibly alienated, and from that moment he devoted
himself and his honesty to Mary Probyn.

Young Reggy was alienated, too, so profoundly that he spoke about it
aside to Straker.

"Between you and me," said young Reggy, "it's a bit too strong. I
can't stick it, the way she goes on. What does she _mean_ by it,
Straker?"

People were always appealing to Straker to tell them what women
meant by it. As if he knew.

He was glad to see that young Reggy had turned, that he _could_
turn. He liked Reggy, and he felt that he owed him a good deal. If
it had not been for Reggy he might, two years ago, have been
numbered as one of the fallen. He had been pretty far