nd.

There was still, then, something "between" them: somewhere the mechanism
of her scheme had failed, or its action had not produced the result she
had counted on.

As soon as they were alone in the study she said, as quietly as she
could: "You saw your father-in-law? You talked with him?"

"Yes--I spent the afternoon with him. Cicely sent you her love."

She coloured at the mention of the child's name and murmured: "And Mr.
Langhope?"

"He is perfectly calm now--perfectly impartial.--This business has made
me feel," Amherst added abruptly, "that I have never been quite fair to
him. I never thought him a magnanimous man."

"He has proved himself so," Justine murmured, her head bent low over a
bit of needlework; and Amherst affirmed energetically: "He has been more
than that--generous!"

She looked up at him with a smile. "I am so glad, dear; so glad there is
not to be the least shadow between you...."

"No," Amherst said, his voice flagging slightly. There was a pause, and
then he went on with renewed emphasis: "Of course I made my point clear
to him."

"Your point?"

"That I stand or fall by his judgment of you."

Oh, if he had but said it more tenderly! But he delivered it with the
quiet resolution of a man who contends for an abstract principle of
justice, and not for a passion grown into the fibres of his heart!

"You are generous too," she faltered, her voice trembling a little.

Amherst frowned; and she perceived that any hint, on her part, of
recognizing the slightest change in their relations was still like
pressure on a painful bruise.

"There is no need for such words between us," he said impatiently; "and
Mr. Langhope's attitude," he added, with an effort at a lighter tone,
"has made it unnecessary, thank heaven, that we should ever revert to
the subject again."

He turned to his desk as he spoke, and plunged into perusal of the
letters that had accumulated in his absence.

* * * * *

There was a temporary excess of work at Westmore, and during the days
that followed he threw himself into it with a zeal that showed Justine
how eagerly he sought any pretext for avoiding confidential moments. The
perception was painful enough, yet not as painful as another discovery
that awaited her. She too had her tasks at Westmore: the supervision of
the hospital, the day nursery, the mothers' club, and the various other
organizations whereby she and Amherst were trying