I _do_ hope not!" exclaimed several ladies.

Here was an inexhaustible topic. It occupied more than an hour, until
the last tea-cup had been laid aside and the more discreet callers were
already on their way home.

CHAPTER XIV

There needed only two or three days of life at Polterham to allay the
uneasiness with which, for all his show of equanimity, Denzil entered
upon so perilous a career. By the end of January he had practically
forgotten that his position was in any respect insecure. The risk of
betraying himself in an unguarded moment was diminished by the mental
habit established during eighteen months of secrecy in London. Lilian's
name was seldom upon his lips, and any inquiry concerning her at once
awakened his caution. Between themselves they never spoke of the past.

Long ago he had silenced every conscientious scruple regarding the
relation between Lilian and himself; and as for the man Northway, if
ever he thought of him at all, it was with impatient contempt. That he
was deceiving his Polterham acquaintances, and in a way which they
would deem an unpardonable outrage, no longer caused him the least
compunction. Conventional wrong doing, he had satisfied himself, was
not wrong-doing at all, unless discovered. He injured no one. The
society of such a person as Lilian could be nothing but an advantage to
man, woman, and child. Only the sublimation of imbecile prejudice would
maintain that she was an unfit companion for the purest creature
living. He had even ceased to smile at the success of his stratagem. It
was over and done with; their social standing was unassailable.

Anxious to complete his book on the Vikings, he worked at it for
several hours each morning; it would be off his hands some time in
February, and the spring publishing season should send it forth to the
world. The rest of his leisure was given to politics. Chests of volumes
were arriving from London, and his library shelves began to make a
respectable appearance; as a matter of principle, he bought largely
from the local bookseller, who rejoiced at the sudden fillip to his
stagnant trade, and went about declaring that Mr. Denzil Quarrier was
evidently _the_ man for the borough.

He fell upon history, economics, social speculation, with
characteristic vigour. If he got into the House of Commons, those
worthies should speedily be aware of his existence among them. It was
one of his favourite boasts that whatever subject he choos