to his credit as a brave man that he could nerve himself
for this with his eyes wide open--wider open than even Mrs. Fane's--to
to the consequences that might be in store for him.

XIII

Ashley had the tact, sprung of his English instinct for moderation, not
to express his good intentions too directly. He preferred to let them
filter out through a seemingly casual manner of taking them for granted.
Neither did he attempt to disguise the fact that the strangeness
incidental to meeting again, in trying conditions and under another sky,
created between himself and Olivia a kind of moral distance across which
they could draw together only by degrees. It was a comfort to her that
he did not try to bridge it by anything in the way of forced tenderness.
He was willing to talk over the situation simply and quietly until, in
the course of an hour or two, the sense of separation began to wear
away.

The necessity on her part of presenting Ashley to her father and
offering him lunch brought into play those social resources that were as
second nature to all three. It was difficult to think the bottom could
be out of life while going through a carefully chosen menu and drinking
an excellent vin de Graves at a table meticulously well appointed. To
escape the irony of this situation they took refuge in the topics that
came readiest, the novelty to Ashley of the outward aspect of American
things keeping them on safe ground till the meal was done. It was a
relief to both men that Guion could make his indisposition an excuse for
retiring again to his room.

It was a relief to Olivia, too. For the first time in her life she had
to recognize her father as insupportable to any one but herself and
Peter Davenant. Ashley did his best to conceal his repulsion; she was
sure of that; he only betrayed it negatively in a tendency to ignore
him. He neither spoke nor listened to him any more than he could help.
By keeping his eyes on Olivia he avoided looking toward him. The fact
that Guion took this aversion humbly, his head hanging and his attention
given to his plate, did not make it the less poignant.

All the same, as soon as they were alone in the dining-room the old
sense of intimacy, of belonging to each other, suddenly returned. It
returned apropos of nothing and with the exchange of a glance. There was
a flash in his eyes, a look of wonder in hers--and he had taken her, or
she had slipped, into his arms.

And yet when a lit