speak of the nature of the accident. This once, she
must do it, _coute que coute_. She went on, speaking low that nothing
should reach the backgammon-players. "They say it was _our_ fault that
old Stephen shot you.... Well!--it _was_...."

"My darling, I have frequently pointed out the large share the Primum
Mobile had in the matter, to say nothing of the undoubted influence of
Destiny...."

"Silly man--I am talking seriously. I don't know that it really matters
whether it was or wasn't--wasn't our fault, I mean--so long as they
think I think it was. That's the point. Now, the question is, did or did
not my superior mamma descend on your _comme-il-faut_ parent to drum
this idea into him, and get him on her side?"

"Am I supposed to know?"

"Yes."

"Then I will be frank with you. Always be frank with mad bulls who butt
you into corners and won't let you out. Your mamma's communications with
my papa had the effect you indicate, and he took me into his confidence
the same evening. He too questions the purity of your motives in
marrying me, alleging that they are vitiated by a spirit of
self-sacrifice, tainted by the baneful influence of unselfishness. He is
alive to the possibility that you hate me cordially, but are
pretending."

"Oh, my dearest, I wish I _did_ hate you.... Why?--why of course then it
would really _be_ a sacrifice, and something to boast of. As it is....
Well--I'm consulting my own convenience, and I ... I am the best judge
of my own affairs. It suits me to ... to lead you to the altar, and I
shall do it. As for what other people think, all I can say is, I will
thank Europe to mind its own business."

Then Adrian said:--"I am conscious of the purity of my own motives. I
believe it would be impossible to discover a case of a Selfishness more
unalloyed than mine, if all the records of Human Weakness were carefully
re-read by experts at the British Museum. I am assuming the existence of
some Digest or Codex of the rather extensive material...."

"Don't go off to that. I always have such difficulty in keeping you to
the point. How selfish are you, and why?"

"I doubt if I can succeed in telling you how selfish I am, but there's
no harm in trying." Speech hung fire for a moment, to seek for words;
then found them. "I am a thing in the dark, with an object, and I call
it Gwen. I am an atom adrift in a huge black silence, and it crushes my
soul, and I am misery itself. Then I hear the voice that I ca