If I had been able to consider the
case logically and without prejudice, I should probably have scorned this
presentation of rigid alternatives as the invention of a romantic mind; I
might have recognised in it the familiar device of the dramatist. But I
had so far surrendered myself to the charm of Anne's individuality that I
accepted her statement without the least shadow of criticism. It was the
search to find some mechanical means of influencing the Jervaises'
decision that reminded me of Arthur Banks's hint of an advantage that he
might use in a last emergency.

"But your brother told me last night," I said, "that there was
some--'pull' or other he had, that might make a difference if it came to
desperate measures."

"He didn't tell you what it was?" she asked, and I knew at once that she
was, after all, in her brother's confidence.

"No, he gave me no idea," I replied.

"He couldn't ever use that," she said decidedly. "He told me about it this
morning, before he went up to the Hall, and I--"

"Dissuaded him?" I suggested, as she paused.

"No! He saw it, himself," she explained.

"It wasn't like Arthur--to think of such a thing, even--at ordinary times.
But after his quarrel with Brenda on the hill--if you could call it a
quarrel, when, so far as I can make out, Arthur never said a word the
whole time--after that, and Brenda being so eager to face them all out,
this morning; he got a little beyond himself."

"Does Brenda know about this--pull?" I asked.

"Of course not!" Anne replied indignantly. "How could we tell her that?"

"I haven't the least notion what it is, you see," I apologised.

"Oh! it's about old Mr. Jervaise," Anne explained without the least show
of reluctance. "There's some woman or other he goes to see in town. And
once or twice Arthur took him in the car. They forget we're human beings
at all, sometimes, you know. They think we're just servants and don't
notice things; or if we do notice them, that we shouldn't be so
disrespectful as to say anything. I don't know what they think. Anyhow, he
let Arthur drive him--twice, I believe it was--and the second time Arthur
looked at him when he came out of the house, and Mr. Jervaise must have
known that Arthur guessed. Nothing was said, of course, but he didn't ever
take Arthur again; but Arthur knows the woman's name and address. It was
in some flats, and the porter told him something, too."

I realised that I had wasted my sympathy on old