“If we learn anything by example in this world, Mr. Chiltern,” he continued, “and it is my notion that we do, I am indebted to your father for more than my start in life.  Through many years of intercourse with him, and contemplation of his character, I have gained more than riches.  —­You have forced me to say this thing.  I am sorry if I have pained you.  But I should not be true to the principles to which he himself was consistent in life, and which he taught by example so many others, if I ventured to hope that social recognition in Grenoble would be accorded you, or to aid in any way such recognition.  As long as I live I will oppose it.  There are, apparently, larger places in the world and less humble people who will be glad to receive you.  I can only hope, as an old friend and well-wisher of your family, that you may find happiness.”

Israel Simpson fumbled for his hat, picked it up, and left the room.  For a moment Chiltern stood like a man turned to stone, and then he pressed the button on the wall behind him.

A MODERN CHRONICLE

By Winston Churchill

Volume 8.

CHAPTER XVI

IN WHICH A MIRROR IS HELD UP

Spring came to Highlawns, Eden tinted with myriad tender greens.  Yellow-greens, like the beech boughs over the old wall, and gentle blue-greens, like the turf; and the waters of the lake were blue and white in imitation of the cloud-flecked sky.  It seemed to Honora, as she sat on the garden bench, that the yellow and crimson tulips could not open wide enough their cups to the sun.

In these days she looked at her idol, and for the first time believed it to be within her finite powers to measure him.  She began by asking herself if it were really she who had ruined his life, and whether he would ultimately have redeemed himself if he had married a woman whom the world would have recognized.  Thus did the first doubt invade her heart.  It was of him she was thinking still, and always.  But there was the doubt.  If he could have stood this supreme test of isolation, of the world’s laughter and scorn, although it would have made her own heavy burden of responsibility heavier, yet could she still have rejoiced.  That he should crumble was the greatest of her punishments.

Was he crumbling?  In these months she could not quite be sure, and she tried to shut her eyes when the little pieces fell off, to remind herself that she must make allowances for the severity of his disappointment.  Spring was here, the spring to which he had so eagerly looked forward, and yet the listlessness with which he went about his work was apparent.  Sometimes he did not appear at breakfast, although Honora clung with desperation to the hour they had originally fixed:  sometimes Mr. Manning waited for him until nearly ten o’clock, only to receive curt dismissal.  He went off for long rides, alone, and to the despair of the groom brought back the horses in a lather, with drooping heads and heaving sides; one of them he ruined.  He declared there wasn’t a horse in the stable fit to give him exercise.