"I wish I could learn to treat my wife as Steel does his," sighed the
good vicar, once when he had been inattentive at the table, and Morna
had rebuked him in fun. "That would be my ideal--if I wasn't too old to
learn!"
"Then thank goodness you are," rejoined his wife. "Let me catch you
dancing in front of me to open the doors, Hugh, and I shall keep my eye
on you as I've never kept it yet!"
But Rachel herself did not dislike these little graces, partly because
they were not put on to impress an audience, but were an incident of
their private life as well; and partly because they stimulated a study
to which she had only given herself since their return to England and
their establishment at Normanthorpe House. This was her study of the man
who was still calmly studying her; she was returning the compliment at
last.
And of his character she formed by degrees some remote conception; he
was Steel by name and steel by nature, as the least observant might
discern, and the least witty remark; a grim inscrutability was his
dominant note; he was darkly alert, mysteriously vigilant, a measurer
of words, a governor of glances; and yet, with all his self-mastery and
mastery of others, there were human traits that showed themselves from
time to time as the months wore on.
Pages:
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156