Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/252

Rh processes of the game of chess, was, even to the Telfers themselves, a source of unmitigated gaiety. Nothing seemed to them funnier than that any one should credit them with any mental capacity; and they had inexhaustibly amusing ways of drawing out and showing off each other’s ignorance.

It was on this scene that Westy’s appreciative eyes had been ﬁxed till Justine’s appearance drew them to herself. He pronounced her name joyfully, and moved forward to greet her; but as their hands met she understood that he did not mean to press his company upon her. Under the eye of the Lynbrook circle he was chary of marked demonstrations, and even Mrs. Amherst’s approval could not, at such moments, bridge over the gap between himself and the object of his attentions. A Gaines was a Gaines in the last analysis, and apart from any pleasing accident of personality; but what was 1Miss Brent but the transient vehicle of those graces which Providence has provided for the delectation of the privileged sex?

These inﬂuences were visible in the temperate warmth of Westy’s manner, and in his way of keeping a backward eye on the mute interchange of comment about the chess—board. At another time his embarrassment would have amused Justine; but the feelings stirred by her talk with Bessy had not subsided, and she recognized with a sting of mortiﬁcation the resemblance [ 236 ]