‘He declared that he wasn’t to blame?’

‘I suppose he meant that.  But it is difficult to see—­’

‘Of course the truth can never be known,’ said Rhoda, with sudden indifference.  ’And it doesn’t matter.  Thank you for satisfying my curiosity.’

Miss Barfoot waited a moment, then laughed.

‘Some day, Rhoda, you shall satisfy mine.’

‘Yes—­if we live long enough.’

What degree of blame might have attached to Barfoot, Rhoda did not care to ask herself; she thought no more of the story.  Of course there must have been other such incidents in his career; morally he was neither better nor worse than men in general.  She viewed with contempt the women who furnished such opportunities; in her judgment of the male offenders she was more lenient, more philosophical, than formerly.

She had gained her wish, had enjoyed her triumph.  A raising of the finger and Everard Barfoot would marry her.  Assured of that, she felt a new contentment in life; at times when she was occupied with things as far as possible from this experience, a rush of joy would suddenly fill her heart, and make her cheek glow.  She moved among people with a conscious dignity quite unlike that which had only satisfied her need of distinction.  She spoke more softly, exercised more patience, smiled where she had been wont to scoff.  Miss Nunn was altogether a more amiable person.

Yet, she convinced herself, essentially quite unchanged.  She pursued the aim of her life with less bitterness, in a larger spirit, that was all.  But pursued it, and without fear of being diverted from the generous path.

CHAPTER XVIII

A REINFORCEMENT

Throughout January, Barfoot was endeavouring to persuade his brother Tom to leave London, where the invalid’s health perceptibly grew worse.  Doctors were urgent to the same end, but ineffectually; for Mrs. Thomas, though she professed to be amazed at her husband’s folly in remaining where he could not hope for recovery, herself refused to accompany him any whither.  This pair had no children.  The lady always spoke of herself as a sad sufferer from mysterious infirmities, and had, in fact, a tendency to hysteria, which confused itself inextricably with the results of evil nurture and the impulses of a disposition originally base; nevertheless she made a figure in a certain sphere of vulgar wealth, and even gave opportunity to scandalous tongues.  Her husband, whatever his secret thought, would hear nothing against her; his temper, like Everard’s, was marked with stubbornness, and after a good deal of wrangling he forbade his brother to address him again on the subject of their disagreement.