Because of this grievance of hers against him, Cyril was not told of her fears, and in due time Evangeline’s battle was won. Evan frowned on the tattered remnant of his doubts and bade them go home. He went in, his heart stumbling and stopping, to the study where Cyril was asleep after a day’s hunting, and shut the door. Cyril came down early before dinner, and found Evangeline reading the evening paper in the drawing-room. “Hullo,” he said. “Hullo, dear,” she replied, and went on reading. “So you and Hatton have fixed it up,” he began. Evangeline put down the paper, and looked up at him. “Is that all right?” she asked. “You’re not cross, are you?” “No, I’m not cross, my dear,” he said, as if he were thinking of something else. “I suppose you wouldn’t tell me any more, would you? Why you really want him, for instance.” “Yes, I would, of course,” she answered readily. “I’d tell you anything—though that’s not true, because I told Dicky weeks ago that he was getting—oh well, you know—quite tame—and she thought you would be pleased, but I wouldn’t let her tell you because—I didn’t want to spoil it.” “H’m,” said Cyril. 80“I mean I liked feeling that none of you knew him properly.” “H’m,” said Cyril again. “Well, what’s the matter?” “A powerful apple,” he observed. “Power, my dear child, power.” “Oh, Father,” she sighed, “you’re not going on again about that dreadful old Eden, are you? I do wish no one had ever told you the story. You think women are always tempting men to this day.” “So they are when it comes to marriage,” he asserted. “Don’t you make any mistake about that.” Evangeline felt desperate, as if she were caught and entangled. “Do you mean that men never fall in love with them?” Tears gathered in her eyes. She had had some weary work at the last stand of Hatton’s doubts, and now her father, whom she loved and believed in as a friend, was going to take the top off the morning of her happiness. Cyril understood and repented. “No,” he said, “Hatton loves you—but——” he looked at her inquiring face and decided to revise what he was going to say. “Have you ever heard of spontaneous combustion? It’s a troublesome thing, but I should have more faith in your sex if they suffered from it in their emotions. They think too hard for my taste. But that’s all. Hatton is the devil of a hard thinker himself, so you had better leave him to scratch his head, and say, ‘yes, dear,’ like your mother does when I give her the benefit of my wisdom. Then all you need is to go out and do just the opposite, and say afterwards that that was 81what you thought he meant. Don’t incense him at the time, is the great thing. ‘The Housewife’s Vade Mecum,’ as I read somewhere, or ‘Little Polly’s first steps in efficiency’.” He kissed her on his way across the room to turn on some more light. “Just to wish you luck, dear, and to show there’s no ill-feeling.” He returned to the fire and drew up a chair. “I’m in favour of marriage for all, myself,” he went on, “young and old, rich and poor, never mind the reason, but get on with the event itself. The advent of little ones is, after all, the only thing that matters, as your mother explained to me. And that was you, Chips. There was a devil of a row before you turned up.” “Oh, did you and Mother quarrel?” she asked, very much surprised. “You can’t call a one-sided thing exactly a quarrel,” he said. “No one but a man could quarrel with me.” “Couldn’t they?” she asked. “No. But your mother is very powerful in the way I was describing;——” Susie came in just then. Cyril had told her while they were dressing that Evan had “put in a claim as consort for Chips; which just bears out what I said this style of architecture would lead to when we came; except that he isn’t wealthy. In fact, he has very little except his pay.” Susie took the line that this was “all that could be expected in a place where people think so much of money that they never leave their offices till it is time to go to bed.” “That ought to make them all the more anxious 82to marry,” he remarked, “or else how can they enjoy any intellectual conversation?” “Of course you will twist everything I say to a coarse standpoint, Cyril,” she said, “because those sort of cheap jokes are so easy to make.” “Where’s the joke?” he asked, putting on his coat. “‘Honi soit qui mal y pense,’ as the leaders of taste remind us.” Susie made no answer, but closed the door between their rooms, and she did not go down until dinner was announced. 83 CHAPTER VII Among the people who called on Susie from Mr. Price’s Paradise, the county, was Lady Varens, David Varens’s stepmother. Sir Richard and Cyril were admirably suited to one another because the old man was a sportsman by nature and practice. He had had an adventurous youth and “mercifully,” as Cyril said, “forgotten the details.” Then, on his father’s death, he came back to Millshire and managed the estate with the same thoroughness that had brought him success in less peaceful enterprises. He married first a guest of one of his hunting neighbours. She was lying unconscious on a bank, with her horse grazing beside her, when he saw her for the first time; and when he had brought her round and taken her home and called every other day to ask how she was it seemed natural to regard her as his own property. She died when David was nine, and Sir Richard married, two years afterwards, a lady whom he thought to have been unjustly divorced from a drunken old peer who had married her from the schoolroom. She was good to David and kept her own counsel, so Millshire allowed her to carry on the tradition of Varens hospitality; in fact there was an extra piquancy about her parties owing to the opportunity they gave for a little private skeleton hunting among intimate friends. Towards the following Christmas, 84while Evangeline was staying with Evan’s sisters, Sir Richard invited Cyril to take a day or two’s hunting with him and stay over the week-end. Lady Varens hoped that Mrs. Fulton would come too, and bring her daughter, to hunt or not, as she liked. Evangeline being away, Teresa was torn from her heart’s delight, the alleys, the rotting garrets and the dingy clubs where she groped all day for the scattered remnant of what seemed to her the lost birthright of the bottom class, their right to the fellowship of common desires and tastes with the people who filled her mother’s drawing-room. “What is the good of this eternal talk about all men being able to reach any position they are fitted for, if, when you come across the most lovable people in that class, you can hardly bear to sit with them for five minutes because of smells and anxieties and habits that shut them off like a cage that they didn’t make themselves and can’t get out of?” she asked Emma Gainsborough. “We are trying to get them out,” said Emma. “I know,” Teresa answered, “but I don’t see how you can unless you kill Mrs. Carpenter.” She and Mrs. Carpenter had perhaps the same end in view when they worked among the dismal crowds that swarmed in the mud and hideousness of the poorer quarters, but to the casual observer it looked as though the “charity ladies, ” as Strickland called them, were under the impression that in their promotion of health and virtue they were pressing something new on somebody who had never heard of it, while Teresa hoped to restore a treasure that had been lost by past generations. 85Her own experience was showing her that the cage door gives way before devotees who will suffer the violation of everything that makes life sweet to them for the sake of what they hold dearer, and she also learned the freemasonry of hard work; the point where she stuck was the apparent impossibility of ever bridging the gulf between Mrs. Carpenter and Mrs. Potter. How to wean Mrs. Carpenter from the idea that the social order was all right because she was on the bright side of it, and at the same time convince Mrs. Potter that it was not all wrong because she was on the dark one? As one of Emma’s friends pointed out, twenty centuries had passed since the only serious attempt had been made to bring about an understanding between the ancestors of those two irreconcilable ladies. The best spiritual engineering had been carried on ever since along the lines then laid down; communications had been devised and traffic of a sort carried on. But as soon as Mrs. Potter advanced a little and caught sight of Mrs. Carpenter and went for her, bald-headed, and when Mrs. Carpenter sailed along from her end of the bridge and then sat down and sang to Mrs. Potter——. I must stop this allegory or the reader will break down in tears of perplexity and perhaps send the book straight back to the library; unless he has himself lived for a time miserably wedged between the philanthropists and the slums of a city. To get on with the story. Teresa was, as I have said, torn from her absorbing occupation and compelled to go with her father and mother to be the Varens’ guest at Aldwych Court. I believe there is no place so comfortable to stay 86in as an English country house belonging to a good hostess. The luxury of dressing in any part of her room without the penalty of gooseflesh; the deep, scented bath and warm towel three feet square; the rich, dry fluffiness under foot, and the cup of tea afterwards, brought by a maid who seemed to have nothing else to do, banished all visions of Mrs. Potter to such a remote corner of Teresa’s consciousness that when she did remember her again the recollection had no more sting than a bad dream. She ate her dinner, served by willing men and women who performed their duties like priests of Isis, instead of, as dear Strickland did, giving her the uneasy feeling that one course would have been quite enough if ladies were not so greedy. She had observed sometimes to Evangeline that Millport maids treated their mistresses as if they were parrots whose dirty cages had to be cleaned out, and whom it “took up people’s time” to feed.

Noho io fitarainany nataony taminy io dia tsy nolazaina tamin'i Cyril ny tahony, ary in tamin'ny fotoana naharesy ny adin'i Evangeline. Nahita ny sisa tavela tamin'ny gorodona i Evan ny fisalasalany ary nasainy nody. Niditra izy, nivembena sy nijanona ny fony, nankany amin’ny fianarana izay natory i Cyril taorian’ny fihazana iray andro, ary nakatony ny varavarana. Nidina aloha i Cyril talohan’ny sakafo hariva, ary nahita an’i Evangeline namaky ny hariva taratasy ao amin'ny efitra fandraisam-bahiny. “Halo,” hoy izy. “Salama, ry malala,” hoy izy namaly, ary nanohy namaky. “Noho izany, ianao sy Hatton dia nanamboatra izany,” hoy izy nanomboka. Evangeline nametraka ny taratasy, ary niandrandra izy. “Tsy maninona ve izany?” hoy izy nanontany. "Tsy milahatra ianao, sa tsy izany?" "Tsia, tsy miampita aho, ry malala," hoy izy, toy ny nieritreritra zavatra hafa. “I eritrereto hoe tsy hiteny amiko intsony ianao, sa tsy izany? Nahoana no tena tianao izy, satria ohatra.” “Eny, tiako izany, mazava ho azy,” hoy izy namaly mora foana.“Hilaza aminao na inona na inona aho—na izany aza tsy marina izany, satria nilaza tamin'i Dicky aho herinandro lasa izay fa mahazo izy—oh, ianao fantaro—tena voafolaka—ary nihevitra izy fa ho faly ianao, saingy tsy navelako hoy izy aminao satria—tsy te hanimba an’izany aho.” "Hm," hoy i Cyril. 80 “Ny tiako holazaina dia tiako ny nahatsapa fa tsy nisy nahafantatra azy tsara ianareo.” “Hm,” hoy indray i Cyril. “Eny, inona no olana?” “Paoma mahery,” hoy izy nanamarika. “Hery, ry zanako malala, hery.” “Oh, Dada,” nisento izy, “tsy handeha intsony ianao momba an’io antitra mahatsiravina io Edena, ianao ve? Maniry aho fa tsy nisy olona nilaza taminao ny tantara. Heverinao fa vehivavy maka fanahy ny olona mandrakariva mandraka androany. “Toy izany izy ireo raha ny momba ny fanambadiana,” hoy izy nanamafy. “Aza manao na inona na inona ianao diso momba izany.” Nahatsiaro ho kivy i Evangeline, toy ny hoe tratra sy voafandrika. “Izany ve no tianao ambara tsy mba tia azy mihitsy ny lehilahy?” Nirotsaka ny ranomasony. Nanana ny sasany izy miasa sasatra amin'ny fijoroana farany amin'ny fisalasalan'i Hatton, ary ankehitriny ny rainy, izay izy tia sy nino amin'ny maha-namana azy, dia hanala ny tampony amin'ny maraina fahasambarana.Nahatakatra izany i Cyril ka nibebaka. “Tsia,” hoy izy, “tia anao i Hatton—fa——” izy nijery ny tarehiny nanontany izy ary nanapa-kevitra ny hamerina izay holazainy. “Manana efa naheno momba ny fandoroana ho azy ve ianao? Zavatra manahirana izany, saingy tokony hataoko izany minoa bebe kokoa ny firaisana ara-nofo aminao raha nijaly tamin'izany tao anatin'ny fihetseham-pony izy ireo. Mieritreritra izy ireo mafy loatra ny tsiroko. Fa izay ihany. Hatton dia devolin'ny mpandinika mafy ny tenany, noho izany dia aleo avelanao hikasika ny lohany izy, ary hiteny hoe: ‘eny, ry malala,’ tahaka ny anao ataon'i Neny rehefa omeko azy ny tombontsoan'ny fahendreko. Dia ny mandeha ihany no ilainao mivoaha ary manao ny mifanohitra amin'izany, ary lazao avy eo fa izay no eritreretinao ny tiany ho lazaina. Aza manosotra azy amin'ny fotoana, dia ny zava-dehibe. 'Ny vehivavy mpikarakara tokantrano Vade Mecum,' raha namaky tany ho any aho, na 'Ny dingana voalohany nataon'i Little Polly amin'ny fahombiazana'. Nanoroka azy izy teny an-dalana namakivaky ny efitrano mba handrehitra jiro bebe kokoa. “Mba ho mirary soa ho anao, ry malala, ary mba hampisehoana fa tsy misy alahelo. " Niverina teo amin'ny afo izy ary nanangana seza. “Mankasitraka ny fanambadiana ho an’ny rehetra aho, ny tenako,” hoy izy nanohy, “na tanora na antitra, na manankarena na mahantra, tsy maninona ny antony, fa tohizo ihany ny hetsika.Ny fahatongavan'ny ankizy kely ihany koa zava-dehibe izany, araka ny fanazavan’ny reninao tamiko. Ary ianao izany ry Chips. Ery dia devoly nifandona talohan'ny nahatongavanao." “Oh, nifamaly ve ianareo sy Neny?” hoy izy nanontany tena fa gaga. "Tsy azonao atao ny miantso zavatra tokana ho fifandirana," hoy izy. “Tsy misy afa-tsy lehilahy afaka miady amiko.” “Tsy afaka?” hoy izy nanontany. “Tsia. Tena mahery tokoa anefa ny reninao, araka ny nolazaiko;——” Tonga i Susie tamin’izay. Nolazain'i Cyril taminy teo am-piaingan'izy ireo izay nananan'i Evan “Ataovy fitakiana ho vady ho an'ny Chips; izay milaza fotsiny izay nolazaiko ity fomba ity ny architecture dia hitarika ho amin'ny fahatongavantsika; afa-tsy hoe tsy manan-karena izy.Raha ny marina, izy kely dia kely, afa-tsy ny karamany”. Noraisin'i Susie ilay tsipika fa izany no “izay rehetra azo antenaina amin'ny toerana iray Mihevitra vola be ny olona ka tsy mivoaka ny biraony mihitsy raha tsy tonga ny fotoana andehana matory." “Tokony hahatonga azy ireo haniry mafy kokoa hanambady izany,” hoy izy, “na Raha tsy izany, ahoana no ahafahan'izy ireo mankafy resaka ara-tsaina? "Mazava ho azy fa hanodina izay rehetra lazaiko amin'ny fomba fijery manjavozavo ianao, Cyril," hoy izy, "Satria ireo karazana vazivazy mora vidy ireo dia mora atao." “Aiza ny vazivazy?” hoy izy nanao ny akanjony. “‘Honi soit qui mal y pense,’ as mampahatsiahy antsika ny mpitarika ny tsiro. Tsy namaly i Susie, fa nakatony ny varavarana teo anelanelan’ny efitranon’izy ireo, ary tsy namaly izy midina mandra-pilaza ny sakafo hariva. 83 TOKO VII Anisan'ireo olona nitsidika an'i Susie avy ao amin'ny Paradisan'i Mr. Price, ilay faritra Lady Varens, renikelin'i David Varens. Tena nahafinaritra i Sir Richard sy Cyril mifanentana amin'ny samy izy satria atleta ara-panatanjahan-tena sy fanazaran-tena io lehilahy antitra io.Nanana tanora tia sahy izy ary “tamin’ny famindram-po”, araka ny nolazain’i Cyril, “nanadino ny antsipiriany.” Avy eo, rehefa maty ny rainy, dia niverina tany Millshire izy ary nitantana ny tany miaraka amin'ny fahamatorana mitovy amin'izay nitondrany fahombiazana tamin'ny tsy fitoniana orinasa. Nanambady vahiny iray tamin'ireo mpifanolo-bodirindrina taminy izy. Izay dia nandry tsy nahatsiaro tena teo amin'ny banky, ary ny soavaliny niambina teo anilany, raha nahita azy voalohany; ary rehefa nentiny nanodidina azy izy ka nentiny nody niantso isan'andro izy mba hanontany hoe ahoana no fahitany azy ho toy ny azy fananana manokana. Maty izy tamin'ny sivy taona i David, ary nanambady i Sir Richard, roa taona taorian'izay, ramatoa noheveriny fa nisara-panambadiana tsy ara-drariny tamin'ny a lehilahy antitra mamo izay nanambady azy tany an-tsekoly. Tsara tamin’i Davida izy ary nitandrina ny toroheviny, ka navelan’i Millshire hitondra azy momba ny fomban-drazana Varens mandray vahiny; raha ny marina dia nisy piquancy fanampiny momba azy antoko noho ny fahafahana nomeny ho an'ny fihazana taolam-paty manokana eo amin’ireo mpinamana akaiky. Ho an'ny Krismasy manaraka, 84 raha Evangeline Nipetraka tany amin’ireo rahavavin’i Evan i Sir Richard, ka nanasa an’i Cyril haka iray na roa andro mihaza miaraka aminy ary mijanona mandritra ny faran'ny herinandro. Nanantena i Ramatoa Varens fa ho avy koa Rtoa Fulton, hitondra ny zanany vavy, hihaza na tsia, araka izay tiany.Evangeline lasa lavitra, Teresa dia rovitra noho ny fifalian'ny fony, ny lalantsara, ny garrets lo sy ny kibay maloto izay nitsapatsapa nandritra ny andro ho an'ireo niparitaka sisa tavela amin'izay noheveriny ho fizokiana very amin'ny saranga ambany, ny zony amin'ny fiombonan'ny faniriana sy ny tsiro iombonana amin'ireo olona nameno azy efitra fisakafoana. “Inona no soa azon’ity resaka mandrakizay ity momba ny fahafahan’ny olona rehetra hahatratra ny toerana rehetra izy ireo dia mety amin'ny, raha, rehefa sendra olona tena tiana amin'io kilasy io ianao, zara raha zakanao ny miara-mipetraka aminy mandritra ny dimy minitra noho ny fofona sy ny fanahiana sy ny fahazarana manidy azy ireo toy ny tranom-borona tsy nataony ny tenany ka tsy afaka mivoaka?” nanontany an'i Emma Gainsborough izy. “Miezaka mamoaka azy ireo izahay,” hoy i Emma. “Fantatro,” hoy i Teresa namaly, “nefa tsy hitako izay hataonao raha tsy mamono an-dRamatoa mpandrafitra ianao.” Izy sy Mrs.Toy izany koa angamba no niafaran’ny mpandrafitra tamin’izy ireo niasa teo anivon'ireo vahoaka manjavozavo izay nirohotra tao anatin'ny fotaka sy ny fahasahiranan'ny tany mahantra, fa ho an'ny mpandinika tsotra dia toa ireo “vehivavy mpanao asa soa, ” araka ny niantsoan'i Strickland azy ireo, dia nahatsapa fa tamin'ny fampiroboroboana ny Ny fahasalamana sy ny hatsaran-toetra dia nanery zava-baovao tamin'ny olona iray izay tsy mbola nisy nandre izany, raha i Teresa kosa nanantena ny hamerina amin’ny laoniny ny harena efa very tamin’ny lasa taranaka. 85Ny zavatra niainany manokana dia naneho azy fa nivadika ny varavaran'ny tranom-borona ireo mpivavaka izay hijaly noho ny fanitsakitsahana ny zava-drehetra izay mamy ho azy ireo ny fiainana noho ny zavatra tian'izy ireo bebe kokoa, ary nianatra ny freemasonry ny mafy koa izy asa; ny teboka nifikitra taminy dia ny tsy azo atao ny mampifandona ny hantsana manelanelana an-dRamatoa mpandrafitra sy Rtoa Potter. Ahoana ny fomba fisarahana an-dramatoa mpandrafitra avy amin'ny fiheverana fa mety tsara ny filaminana ara-tsosialy satria eo amin'ny lafiny tsara izy amin'izany, ary amin'izay fotoana izay dia mandresy lahatra an-dRamatoa Potter fa tsy diso daholo izany satria tao amin'ny maizina ve izy? Araka ny nasehon’ny iray tamin’ireo naman’i Emma, ​​taonjato roapolo efa lasa hatramin'ny hany ezaka matotra natao mba hahatonga an fifankahazoana eo amin'ny razamben'ireo andriambavilanitra roa ireo.Ny tsara indrindra ny teknika ara-panahy dia notanterahina hatramin'izay nametrahana azy; Nisy ny fifampiresahana ary nisy ny fifampikasohana. Fa raha vao Nandroso kely Ramatoa Potter ka nahita an-dRamatoa mpandrafitra dia nandeha nanatona azy. sola loha, ary rehefa nandeha an-tsambo niala teo amin'ny faran'ny tetezana i Rtoa Carpenter ary dia nipetraka ary nihira ho an-dRamatoa Potter——. Tsy maintsy atsahatro ity fanoharana ity na ilay ho latsa-dranomaso noho ny fahaverezan-kevitra ny mpamaky ary angamba handefa ilay boky mahitsy miverina any amin'ny tranomboky; raha tsy hoe niaina nandritra ny fotoana nampalahelo azy izy eo amin'ny mpanao asa soa sy ny fonenan'ny tanàna iray. Mba hirosoana amin'ny tantara. I Teresa, araka ny efa nolazaiko, dia rovitra noho ny fientanentanany ary voatery nandeha niaraka tamin'ny rainy sy ny reniny mba ho varen'ny vahiny ao amin'ny Aldwych Court. Mino aho fa tsy misy toerana mahafinaritra hipetrahana 86in amin'ny maha-trano ambanivohitra anglisy azy an'ny mpampiantrano tsara. Ny haitraitra amin'ny fiakanjo amin'ny faritra rehetra amin'ny efitranony tsy misy sazin'ny nofo gisa; ny lalina, manitra fandroana sy mafana lamba famaohana telo metatra toradroa; ny felam-boninkazo maina sy manankarena eo ambanin'ny tongotra, ary ny kapoaky ny dite avy eo, nentin'ny mpanompovavy toa tsy manan-katao hafa, nandroaka ny fahitana rehetra ny Rtoa.Potter mankany amin'ny zorony lavitra ny fahatsiarovan'i Teresa izay rehefa nanao izany izy tsarovy indray izy fa ny fahatsiarovana dia tsy nisy fanindronana mihoatra noho ny nofy ratsy. Nihinana izy ny sakafo harivany, natolotry ny lehilahy sy vehivavy vonona izay nanao ny andraikiny toy ny ny pretran'i Isis, fa tsy, tahaka ny nataon'i Strickland malala, nanome azy ny fahatsapana tsy milamina izany ny taranja iray dia ho ampy raha tsy tia vola loatra ny vehivavy. Nanana izy indraindray dia nahita an'i Evangeline fa ny mpiasa an-trano Millport dia nitondra ny tompovaviny toy ny raha boloky tsy maintsy nodiovina ny tranom-borona maloto, ary “nalainy fotoanan’ny olona” hamelomana.