Part 27 (2/2)

”On your way?” said Grey indulgently. ”Twenty miles out of it, I should have thought. But never mind. That's husbands for you:I've done the same myself. All right. Give her my love..

”Yes, I will,” said Gideon, and slipped out, calling for his man. He was on the road in less than an hour; and by next day, Tuesday, the nineteenth of June, he was home at Flaw Valleys.

The Ultimate Check.

The corrouers and berars of lettres ought hastily and spedily do her viage thatcomanded hem with oute taryenge. Fortheir taryenge might noyc and greve themthat sende hem forth, or ellis them towhom they ben sent too. And tome hem to ryght grete domage or villonye.

1. The Fast Moves

LYMOND recovered from his wound with characteristic rapidity; from the beginning, in fact, he acted as if it did not exist, and Kate was perfectly willing to do the same.

A frangible and archaic courtesy reigned at Flaw Valleys. Katherine forbade none of its o~ces to her guest: he was under permanent escort, but free to wander where he chose. At her request, he shared her table and occasionally her parlour. His unspoken resistance to the situation delighted her, as did the way he dealt with it.

He set the tenor for their encounters the first morning after the incident with Charles. He unlocked his door, made some necessary apologies and conformed to the reigning atmosphere of frigid politeness.

Kate, however, was only choosing her weapons. By suppertime on Friday, and after four days of shrewd observation, she opened fire.

”I notice,” she said, pa.s.sing the salt, ”that you were outside today. Did you meet Philippa?.

Lymond accepted the condiment, but not the challenge. ”We had a few words,” he said. ”She is a-striking young person already..

Kate helped herself. ”We think so. What did she say to you?.

”Her remarks were few and deflatory,” he said. This was an understatement, as Kate knew very well. She observed, ”I'm afraid she's being rather unresponsive. We've been trying to teach her to feel sorry for you. I do dislike personal hatreds in a child..

This time, after a moment, he called her bluff. ”Perhaps Philippa and I should be thrown together a little more. She mi ht become attached to me if she knew me better.” gKate, brightening visibly, ignored the gleam in his eye. ”That would make her sorry for you?.

”It might. The object of any sort of clinical study deserves compa.s.sion, don't you think?.

”Snakes don't,” said Katherine inconsequently. ”I hate snakes..

”And yet you feed them on honey cakes and forbid them to defend themselves..

”Defencelessness is not a noted characteristic of serpents. Anyhow, I can't have them lying rattling about the house. It gets on the nerves..

”It does if you handle it by rattling back. I've no objection, you know, to practicing the social arts..

Kate viewed him suspiciously. ”I don't see why I should abandon my entertainment because of your conscience.

”It isn't quite conscience so much as horrified admiration,” said Lymond. ”From cuticle to corium in four days..

”You have to be quick with them. They grow another skin. I thought it mightn't be conscience,” said Kate, collecting platters.

He was gazing down at the table. ”I really can't go on apologizing. It would be too monotonous..

Kate, taking a dish from the cupboard, halted beside him. ”You don't owe me anything, except a little amus.e.m.e.nt. Why not bite back?.

”Because,” said Lymond, lifting his eyes suddenly, ”I'm a constant pract.i.tioner of the art and you are not..

”I don't mind,” said Kate wistfully. ”Won't you bite?.

”Like a shark. It's a habit. And habits are h.e.l.l's own subst.i.tute for good intentions. Habits are the ruin of ambition, of initiative,of imagination. They're the curse of marriage and the after-bane of death..

Katherine surveyed the indifferent face critically. ”For an advocate of chaos, you're quite convincing. There is such a thing, you know, as habitual disorder-as of course you know: few have had such a permanently unsettled regime as you have. Suppose you had a chance to lead a normal life?.

”Let's leave my sordid affairs out of this, shall we?” he said. ”You've missed a point. There's a nice difference between rootless excitement and careful variety..

”If I can't be personal, I don't want to argue,” said his hostess categorically. ”I may be missing your points, but you're much too busy dodging mine..

”Yours aren't points, they're probangs. I don't see why I should help..

”I do. Because Gideon would help cook his father if the cannibal quoted poetry at him,” said Kate.

”And I have drunk of Castalia as well as bathed in it..

”It was Charles who bathed in it, as I recall. I forgot,” said Kate sardonically. ”You like your privacy. My apologies for scrabbling round the edges in an undignified way. Pay no attention. Grimalkin goes quavering back to the chimney piece..

The long, slender fingers tightened about the salt cellar. ”Leave it, can't you?” said Lymond softly.

There was flat challenge in Kate's rigid spine. ”Is there any reason why I should? I want-.

He interrupted her, pus.h.i.+ng away the heavy silver vessel so that it slid precisely, like a curling stone, into the centre of the board between them.

”What you want is very clear. You want my confidence. If you can't have that, you want to goad me into making admissions about myself. If you can't have that, you use moral pressure. I'm quite conscious of my obligations and misdemeanours toward the members of your family. I disagree about the mode of compensation, that's all..

Her cheeks were scarlet. ”Mr. Crawford, I really doubt if you're in a position to agree or disagree about anything..

The impatient, ruthless gaze lifted to hers. ”Nor do I need to be reminded. You may expose me; you may baulk me. I've no remedy..

”If you prize reticence more than your life,” said Kate dryly, ”then you're certainly beyond remedy..

”Reticence? No,” he said. ”But I prize freedom of the mind above freedom of the body. I claim the right to make my own mistakes and keep quiet about them. You have all the licence in the world to protect your husband. My life is at your disposal, but not my thoughts..

”Dear me,” said Kate, rising. ”I doubt if I could stomach your thoughts. It was just a few basic facts I was thinking of, such as whether you were one of these people who can eat goose eggs. The creatures keep laying them: an appalling habit, but we can't break it..

Untenable positions were not for Kate. His mouth relaxed, and he rose smoothly and opened the door for her, laughter lines gathering at the corners of the veiled eyes. ”I thought the conversation was cutting an ovoid track. I wouldn't for the world deprive you of the last bite..

”Thank you,” said Kate. ”If we're referring to snakes. Not if you're talking about fish..

”Pythonissa,” retorted Lymond, and unexpectedly smiled.

* * *She conceded him his victory.

In the days that followed, she did no more probing; partly because she now saw that these ferretings had no relation to the level on which his mind worked; and partly because his wits were too sharp. She could tire him; she could anger him. Four days had taught her that she could nearly shake his self-control and that he was himself shaken and dismayed by his weakening grip of himself. But she could never override him, and she stopped attempting it.

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