pter XL

Mr. Saul's Abode

When Harry Clavering left London he was not well, though he did not care
to tell himself that he was ill. But he had been so harassed by his
position, was so ashamed of himself and as yet so unable to see any
escape from his misery, that he was sore with fatigue and almost worn
out with trouble. On his arrival at the parsonage, his mother at once
asked him if he was ill, and received his petulant denial with an
ill-satisfied countenance. That there was something wrong between him
and Florence she suspected, but at the present moment she was not
disposed to inquire into that matter. Harry's love affairs had for her a
great interest, but Fanny's love affairs at the present moment were
paramount in her bosom. Fanny, indeed, had become very troublesome since
Mr. Saul's visit to her father. On the evening of her conversation with
her mother, and on the following morning, Fanny had carried herself with
bravery, and Mrs. Clavering had been disposed to think that her
daughter's heart was not wounded deeply. She had admitted the
impossibility of her marriage with Mr. Saul, and had never insisted on
the strength of her attachment. But no sooner was she told that Mr. Saul
had been banished from the house, than she took upon herself to mope in
the most love-lorn fashion, and behaved herself as though she were the
victim of an all-absorbing passion. Between her and her father no word
on the subject had been spoken, and even to her mother she was silent,
respectful and subdued, as it becomes daughters to be who are hardly
used when they are in love. Now, Mrs. Clavering felt that in this her
daughter was not treating her well.

"But you don't mean to say that she cares for him?" Harry said to his
mother, when they were alone on the evening of his arrival.

"Yes, she cares for him, certainly. As far as I can tell, she cares for
him very much."

"It is the oddest thing I ever knew in my life. I should have said he
was the last man in the world for success of that kind."

"One never can tell, Harry. You see he is a very good young man."

"But girls don't fall in love with men because they're good, mother."

"I hope they do--for that and other things together."

"But he has got none of the other things. What a pity it was that he was
let to stay here after he first made a fool of himself."

"It's too late to think of that now, Harry. Of course she can't marry
him. They would have nothing to live o