him he
should not attempt that crazy trip of his without me along, but he
would go. And this is what he has brought upon me, and he not here to
share it." Mrs. Hardy's tone conveyed very plainly her grievance over
the doctor's behaviour in evading the consequences of the situation
which his headstrong folly had created.

"She is set in her own mind," Conward continued. "We must not openly
oppose her. You must appear to be resigned, even to the extent of
treating Elden with such consideration as you can. To argue with
Irene, to attempt to persuade her, or to order Elden off the place,
would only deepen their attachment. Lovers are that way, Mrs. Hardy.
We must adopt other tactics."

"You are very clever," said Mrs. Hardy. "You have been a student of
human nature."

Conward smiled pleasurably. Little as he valued Mrs. Hardy's opinion,
her words of praise fell very gratefully upon him. Flatterers are
seldom proof against their own poison. "Yes, I have studied human
nature," he admitted. "The most interesting--and the most
profitable--of all studies. And I know that young couples in love are
not governed by the ordinary laws of reason. That is why it is useless
to argue with Irene--sensible girl though she is--on a subject like
this. We must reach her some other way.

"The way that occurs to me is to create distrust. Love is either
absurdly trustful or absurdly suspicious. There is no middle course,
no balanced judgment. Everything is in extremes. Everything is seen
through a magnifying lens, or missed altogether. In the trustfulness
of love little virtues are magnified to angelic qualities, and vices
are quite unseen. But change that trust to suspicion, and a hidden,
sinister meaning is found behind the simplest word or act."

Conward had risen and was walking about the room. He was conscious of
being regarded as a man of very deep insight, and the consciousness
pleased him.

"We must cause Irene to distrust Elden--to see him in his true light,"
he continued. "That may be possible. But if it should fail we must
take another course, which I hesitate to mention to you, but which may
be necessary if we are to save her from this fatal infatuation. If our
efforts to cause Irene to see Elden in his true light were to fail, and
she were to discover those efforts, she would be more set in his favour
than ever. So we must plan two campaigns; one, which I have already
suggested, and one, if that sho