Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/463

Rh The knowledge that Justine had been with his wife till the end had, in fact, done more than anything else to soften Amherst’s regrets; and he had tried to express something of this in the course of his ﬁrst talk with her. Justine had given him a clear and self-possessed report of the dreadful weeks at Lynbrook; but at his ﬁrst allusion to her own part in them, she shrank into a state of distress which seemed to plead with him to refrain from even the tenderest touch on her feelings. It was a peculiarity of their friendship that silence and absence had always mysteriously fostered its growth; and he now felt that her reticence deepened the understanding between them as the freest conﬁdences might not have done.

Soon afterward, an opportune attack of nervous prostration had sent Mrs. Harry Dressel abroad; and Justine was selected as her companion. They remained in Europe for six months; and on their return Amherst learned with pleasure that Mr. Langhope had asked Miss Brent to take charge of Cicely.

Mr. Langhope’s sorrow for his daughter had been aggravated by futile wrath at her unaccountable will; and the mixed sentiment thus engendered had found expression in a jealous outpouring of affection toward Cicely. He took immediate possession of the child, and in the ﬁrst stages of his affliction her companionship had been really consoling. But as time passed, [ 447 ]