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Updated: May 25, 2025
Ralph made a sign of assent, and Moffatt pondered. "That's bad bad." "And now I understand she's going to marry again and of course I can't give up my son." "She wants you to, eh?" Ralph again assented. Moffatt swung his chair about and leaned back in it, stretching out his plump legs and contemplating the tips of his varnished boots. He hummed a low tune behind inscrutable lips.
She came hurriedly forward and behind her Undine perceived the figure of a slight quietly dressed man, as to whom her immediate impression was that he made every one else in the room look as common as Moffatt.
Later on she would make a longer visit to town, in Poppar's company, but even if the invitation were given she could not consent to remain any longer the guest of Mrs Silas P Moffatt. She was a woman whom it was impossible to respect, and to Cornelia, respect was a necessary foundation to friendship. Silas did not count! He was "a little misery," to be regarded only as an adjunct to his wife.
"We were delighted to receive your agreement to take the necklace, for, as Mrs Moffatt had definitely decided that it was beyond her figure, we were on the point of sending it over to our Paris house. I am sure Mr Briskett will not regret this purchase when he sees the quality of the stones."
The woman did not answer, but looked across the room towards where Cornelia stood; and Cornelia parted her hands and looked back at her in pitiful inquiry. "Did you mean to run away, and leave me here alone?" Mrs Moffatt bent her head in shame. Her face was not white now, but deep, burning red. "We knew after last night that the game was up. We had to go, Cornelia or "
Her seat was at his side, and her old sense of triumph returned as she perceived the importance his notice conferred, not only in the eyes of her own party but of the other diners. Moffatt was evidently a notable figure in all the worlds represented about the crowded tables, and Undine saw that many people who seemed personally unacquainted with him were recognizing and pointing him out.
Concerning his son he still felt and thought, in a general way, in the terms of the Dagonet tradition; he still wanted to implant in Paul some of the reserves and discriminations which divided that tradition from the new spirit of limitless concession. But for himself it was different. Since his transaction with Moffatt he had had the sense of living under a new dispensation.
Submissively she began to speak, in her low, murmuring voice; she went back over the past the winter in Bruton Street; the first news of the Moffatt engagement; her efforts for Warkworth's promotion; the history of the evening party which had led to her banishment; the struggle in her own mind and Warkworth's; the sudden mad schemes of their last interview; the rush of the Paris journey.
"Undine's to be married next week, isn't she?" he asked in a conversational tone. Mr. Spragg's face blackened and he swung about in his revolving chair. "You go to " Moffatt raised a deprecating hand. "Oh, you needn't warn me off. I don't want to be invited to the wedding. And I don't want to forbid the banns." There was a derisive sound in Mr. Spragg's throat.
"I mean to have you! Do you hear me? I mean to have you." And just then Margaret Moffatt drew near. Calmly, smilingly, she came like one playing her part in a perfectly arranged drama. "You are here? Ready for home? Wasn't it sublime and exactly as it should be? We are so nice and friendly with our real selves." There was no surprise; no suggestion of disapproval.
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