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Why, that man that fellow, John Betts" he pointed to the Hoddon Grey woods on the edge of the plain "whom the Newburys are driving out of his job, because he picked a woman out of the dirt just like these Christians! John Betts knows more about land in his little finger than Glenwilliam's whole body!
Arthur had come rushing back to Coryston after the catastrophe, restored by it, like a stream which has wandered in flood, to the older and natural channels of life. Bitter remorse for his conduct to his mother, and a sharp resentment of Enid Glenwilliam's conduct toward himself, acted wholesomely.
The young man, sitting where the whole careless grace of Miss Glenwilliam's person was delightfully visible to him, showed a countenance red with wrath. Coryston faced round upon him, transformed. His frown had disappeared in a look of radiant good humor. "Look here, Arthur, you've got the money-bags you might leave me the talking. Has he told you what's happened?"
"She's got something cruel in her eyes." "Cruel! Why, Lady Coryston's coming " "To trample on her? Of course. I know that. But any fool can see that the game will be Miss Glenwilliam's. She'll have my mother in a cleft stick. I'm not sure I oughtn't to be somewhere about. Well, well. I'll march. When shall we 'resume the conversation, as you put it?" He looked at her, smiling.
Lady Coryston remembered the large mocking eyes of Enid Glenwilliam, as seen amid the shadows of a dark drawing-room, about a fortnight later than the dinner-party, when with a consistency which seemed to her natural, and also from a wish to spare the girl's feelings, she had declined to be introduced, at the suggestion of another blundering hostess, to Glenwilliam's daughter.
Her flowing dress and scarf of some thin black material, delicately embroidered with jet, were arranged, as usual, with a view to the only effect she ever cared to make the effect of the great lady, in command clearly of all possible resources, while far too well bred to indulge in display or ostentation. Enid Glenwilliam's blood had quickened, in spite of her apparent ease.
Lady Coryston realized at once she was being scanned by a very sharp pair of eyes, and that their owner was, or seemed to be, in no sort of embarrassment. The first advantage, indeed, had been gained by the younger woman. Lady Coryston had approached her with the formality of a stranger. Enid Glenwilliam's easy greetings suggested that they had already met in many drawing-rooms.
The excitement of that huge meeting of the night before was still tingling even in Marion's quiet Conservative veins. She had not been carried away by Glenwilliam's eloquence at all; she had thought him a wonderful, tawdry, false man of genius, not unlikely to bring himself and England to ruin. All the same, he must be an exhausting man for a daughter to live with; and a daughter who adored him.
But she fronted him bravely. "You are, as it happens, entirely wrong, Arthur. It's not I who have done it but Miss Glenwilliam's own good sense or her father's. Of course I confess frankly that I should have done my best that I did, if you like, do my best, to prevent your marriage with Miss Glenwilliam.
It was the window of Enid Glenwilliam's room. Though the church clock below had struck eleven, and the bell for morning service had ceased to ring, Miss Glenwilliam was not yet out of bed. Marion had stayed at home from church that she might enjoy her friend's society, and the friend had only just been called. Well, it was Enid's way; and after all, who could wonder?
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