'Am I just an odious, clever woman?' She sat down and hated herself.
All the passing vanity that had been stirred in her by Sir Henry's
compliments, all the natural pleasure she had taken in the success
of her great adventure as a business woman, in the ease with which
she, the Squire's paid secretary, had lately begun to lead the
patriotic effort of an English county--how petty, how despicable
even, it seemed, in presence of a boy who had given his all!--even
beside a girl in love!
And the Squire--'Was I hard to him too?'
The night came down. All the strange or beautiful shapes in the
library wavered and flickered under the firelight--the glorious
Nike--the Eros--the noble sketch of the boy in his cricketing
dress....
* * * * *
The following morning came a telegram from Aubrey Mannering to Mrs.
Gaddesden. Elizabeth had done her best to propitiate her but she
remained cold and thorny, and when the telegram came she was pleased
that the news came to her first, and--tragic as it was--that
Elizabeth had to ask her for it!
'Terrible wounds.
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