"You know better than I," said Fleda, speaking with high extravagance. Fleda was mystified. "People surely knew at Poynton," she objected, "if, as you say, she's there."!

Mrs. Gereth stared. "Do you mean he's at Waterbath? Well, that's your own affair. I can bear it if you can." "I said to her that her question revealed a total misconception of the nature of my present relations with my son. I said to her that I had no relations with him at all, and that nothing had passed between us for months. I said to her that my hands were spotlessly clean of any attempt to make him make up to you. I said to her that I had taken from Poynton what I had a right to take, but had done nothing else in the world. I was determined that if I had bit my tongue off to oblige you I would at least have the righteousness that my sacrifice gave me."

"And leave his house as bare as your hand? There's nothing in it that isn't precious." "I know you can, or I shouldn't dream of speaking. When the pressure was removed she came up again. From the moment the house was once more what it had to be, her natural charm reasserted itself." "That's your great feeling about him," Fleda said; "but how, after what has happened, can it be his about you?"