Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/493

Rh subdued to human ways. And, as her inward bliss became more and more a quiet habit of the mind, the longing to help and minister returned, absorbing her more deeply in her husband’s work.

She dismissed the carriage at the station, and when his train had arrived they emerged together into the cold winter twilight and turned up Madison Avenue. These walks home from the station gave them a little more time to themselves than if they had driven; and there was always so much to tell on both sides. This time the news was all good; the work at Westmore was prospering, and on Justine’s side there was a more cheerful report of Mr. Langhope’s health, and—best of all—his promise to give them Cicely for the summer. Amherst and Justine were both anxious that the child should spend more time at Hanaford, that her young associations should begin to gather about Westmore; and Justine exulted in the fact that the suggestion had come from Mr. Langhope himself, while she and Amherst were still planning how to lead him up to it.

They reached the house while this triumph was still engaging them; and in the doorway Amherst turned to her with a smile.

“And of course—dear man!—he believes the idea is all his. There’s nothing you can’t make people believe, you little Jesuit!”

“I don’t think there is!” she boasted, falling gaily [ 477 ]