Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/190

Rh the change that softened his voice when he spoke of her to his mother.

“Now, then, if I present a sufﬁciently unruffled surface, let us go back to Mrs. Ansell—for I confess that her mysterious reasons are not yet apparent to me.”

Mrs. Amherst looked deprecatingly at her son. “Maria Ansell is devoted to you too, John”

“Of course she is! It’s her rôle to be devoted to everybody—especially to her enemies.”

“Her enemies?”

“Oh, I didn’t intend any personal application. But why does she want me to take Bessy abroad?”

“She and Mr. Langhope think that Bessy is not looking well.”

Amherst paused, and the frown showed itself for a moment. “What do you think, mother?”

“I hadn’t noticed it myself: Bessy seems to me prettier than ever. But perhaps she has less colour—and she complains of not sleeping. Maria thinks she still frets over the baby.”

Amherst made an impatient gesture. “Is Europe the only panacea?”

“You should consider, John, that Bessy is used to change and amusement. I think you sometimes forget that other people haven’t your faculty of absorbing themselves in a single interest. And Maria says that the new doctor at Clifton, whom they seem to think so [ 174 ]