Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/285

Rh line; but at any rate I shall have to be back at the mills the day after tomorrow.”

The disappointment brought a rush of bitterness to her lips. “The day after tomorrow? It seems hardly worth while to have come so far for two days!”

“Oh, I don’t mind the journey—and there are one or two matters I must consult you about.”

There could hardly have been a more ill-advised answer, but Amherst was reckless now. If she cared for his coming only that he might ﬁll a place at a fancy-dress dinner, he would let her see that he had come only because he had to go through the form of submitting to her certain measures to be taken at Westmore.

Bessy was beginning to feel the physical reaction of her struggle with the mare. The fatigue which at ﬁrst had deadened her nerves now woke them to acuter sensibility, and an appealing word from her husband would have drawn her to his arms. But his answer seemed to drive all the blood back to her heart.

“I don’t see why you still go through the form of consulting me about Westmore, when you have always done just as you pleased there, without regard to me or Cicely.”

Amherst made no answer, silenced by the discouragement of hearing the same old grievance on her lips; and she too seemed struck, after she had spoken, by the unproﬁtableness of such retorts. [ 269 ]