in the neighbourhood!"

"Perhaps it is only what any friend of Cecil would advise."

"It is the very reverse of what I intended," said Raymond, shading
his face.

"My dear Raymond, I know what you meant, and what you wish; but I am
also certain it is for no one's happiness to go on in this way."

He groaned.

"And the wife's right comes first."

"Not to this house."

"But to this man. Indeed I see more hope of your happiness now than
I did last year."

"What, because she has delivered herself over bound hand and foot to
Camilla Vivian?"

"No, because she is altered. Last year she was merely vexed at my
position in the house. Now she is vexed at my position with you."

"Very unjustly."

"Hardly so. I should not have liked your father to be so much
devoted to his mother. Remember, jealousy is a smoke that cannot
exist without some warmth."

"If she had any proper feeling for me, she would show it by her
treatment of you."

"That would be asking too much when she thinks I engross you."

"Mother, while you show such marvellous candour and generosity, and
she--"

"Hush! Raymond, leave it unsaid! We cannot expect her to see more
than her own side of the question. She has been put into an
avowedly trying position, and does not deserve hard judgment for not
being happy in it. All that remains is to relieve her. Whether by
my moving or yours is the question. I prefer the Church-house
plan."

"Either way is shame and misery to me," broke out Raymond in a
choked voice.

"Nonsense," said his mother, trying to be cheerful. "You made an
impracticable experiment, that's all. Give Cecil free scope, let
her feel that she has her due, and all will come right."

"Nothing can be done till after the Wil'sbro' business," said
Raymond, glad of the reprieve. He could not bear the prospect of
banishment for his mother or himself from the home to which both
were rooted; and the sentence of detachment from her was especially
painful when she seemed his only consolation for his wife's
perverseness. Yet he was aware that he had been guilty of the
original error, and was bound to give such compensation to his wife
as was offered by his mother's voluntary sacrifice. He was slow to
broach the subject, but only the next morning came a question about
an invitation to a dull house.

"But," said Cecil, "it is better than home." She spoke on purpose.

"I am sorry to hear you say so."

"I can't call it home wh