ur, as though he were prepared, now,
to meet even that more recent impeachment of his virtue which he had
feared earlier in the day. But Arthur's face gave no sign of any
vindictive intention, and the old man silently followed his son, creeping
out with the air of a man who submissively shoulders the burden of his
disgrace.

I had been sorry for him that morning, but I was still sorrier for him
then. Banks was suffering righteously and might find relief in that
knowledge, but this man was reaping the just penalties of his own acts.

XV

REMEMBRANCE

I do not believe that any of them saw me leave the room.

As soon as old Jervaise had gone, all of them had turned with an instinct
of protection towards the head of the family. He, alone, had been
sacrificed. Within an hour his whole life had been changed, and I began to
doubt, as Anne had doubted, whether so old a tree would bear
transplanting. Whatever tenderness and care could do, would be done for
him, but the threat of uprooting had come so suddenly. In any case, I
could not help those gentle foresters whose work it would be to conduct
the critical operation; and I walked out of the room without offering any
perfunctory excuse for leaving them.

I made my way into the garden by the side door through which I had first
entered the Home Farm; and after one indeterminate moment, came to a halt
at the gate on the slope of the hill. I did not want to go too far from
the house. For the time being I was no more to the Banks than an
inconvenient visitor, but I hoped that presently some of them--I put it
that way to myself--would miss me, and that Arthur or Anne would come and
tell me what had been arranged in my absence. I should have been glad to
talk over the affair with Arthur, but I hoped that it would not be Arthur
who would come to find me.

For a time my thoughts flickered capriciously over the astonishing events
of my adventurous week-end. I was pleasantly replete with experience. In
all my life I had never before entered thus completely into any of the
great movements of life. I recalled my first thrills of anticipation
amidst the glowing, excited youth of the resting dancers at the Hall. We
had been impatient for further expression. The dragging departure of the
Sturtons had been an unbearable check upon the exuberance of our desires.
In my thought of the scene I could see the unspent spirit of our vitality
streaming up in a fierce fount of energy.