cared, he did care....  He’s forgetting because I don’t get a chance....  She’s stealing him....  She was always a selfish little cad, grabbing, and not really caring.  She can’t care as I do, she’s not made that way....  She cares for nothing but herself....  She gets everything, just by sitting still and not bothering....  College makes girls awful....  Peggy says men don’t like them, but they do.  They seem not to care about men, but they care just the same.  They don’t bother, but they get what they want....  Pig....  Oh, I can’t bear it.  Why should I?...  I love him, I love him, I love him....  Oh, I must go to sleep.  I shall go mad if I have another night like last night.’

Clare got out of bed, stumbled to the washstand, splashed her burning head and face with cold water, then lay shivering.

It may or may not be true that the power to love is to be found in the human being in inverse ratio to the power to think.  Probably it is not; these generalisations seldom are.  Anyhow, Clare, like many others, could not understand, but loved.

6

Lady Pinkerton said to her lord next day, ’How much longer will the peace take being made, Percy?’

’My dear, I can’t tell you.  Even I don’t know everything.  There are many little difficulties, which have to be smoothed down.  Allies stand in a curious and not altogether easy relation to one another.’

‘Italy, of course....’

‘And not only Italy, dearest.’

‘Of course, China is being very tiresome.’

‘Ah, if it were only China!’

Lady Pinkerton sighed.

’Well, it is all very sad.  I do hope, Percy, that after this war we English will never again forget that we hate all foreigners.’

’I hope not, my dear.  I am afraid before the war I was largely responsible for encouraging these fraternisations and discriminations.  A mistake, no doubt.  But one which did credit to our hearts.  One must always remember about a great people like ourselves that the heart leads.’

‘Thank God for that,’ said Leila Yorke, illogically.  Then Lady Pinkerton added, ’But this peace takes too long....  I suppose a lasting and righteous peace must ...  Shall you have to be running to and fro like this till it’s signed, dear?’

‘To and fro, yes.  I must keep an office going here.’

‘Jane is enjoying it,’ said Lady Pinkerton.  ’She sees a lot of Oliver Hobart, I suppose, doesn’t she?’

’He’s in and out, of course.  He and the child get on better than they used to.’

‘There is no doubt about that,’ said Lady Pinkerton.  ’If you don’t know it, Percy, I had better tell you.  Men never see these things.  He is falling in love with her.’

Lord Pinkerton fidgeted about the room.

‘Rilly.  Rilly.  Very amusing.  You used to think it was Clare, dearest.’

He cocked his head at her accusingly, convicting her of being a woman of fancies.