y Cardew, "the last of the Ca
to your mother's determination to shroud this room in i
club that afternoon, where every day from four to six he played bridge with his own little group, reactionaries like himself, men who viewed the difficulties
uired, "how does it
ly. He was sometimes most
sure, gra
re abou
erybody, of course. But wh
forgiving her. "You'll find plenty.
ifferent, g
had a war. We've had other wars, and we didn't think it necessary to change the Constitution after them. But everything that wa
to arouse a controvers
aid it, Lily immediately believed it. She felt suddenly fired wi
fixed her with cold
ot at all sure what she meant. And old Antho
He is full of them. If he had his way I'd have a board of m
ose folds of faded blue Italian velvet, with old silver candle sconces at irregular intervals along the walls. The great table and high-backed chairs were likewise Italian, and the old-
derately, in a light frock and slippers. But she watched it all with a new interest and a certain detachment. She felt strange and aloof, not entirely one of them. She felt very keenly that no one
ind the little man with the sardonic smile and the swift unpleasant humor, whose glance reduced the men who served into terrified menials? Her big, blond father, with his rather slow speech, his hone
because they loved greatly. Like Aunt Elinor. Aunt Elinor had loved her husband more than she had loved her child. Quite calmly Lily decided that, as between her husband and herself,
of remembering things, suddenly bent forw
itions as wrong, and, I inferred, wrong because of my mishandl
say they were
you have no answer and no remedy. Yet, heaven save the country, women are going to
sn't it
e food is
from th
e broke into a cold fury. What had come over the world, anyhow? Time was when a gentleman's servan
ed to find some comfort there. And Lily, sorry for her
randfather. And service, in your s
ho said that? Because I d
I knew
at
was Will
lified to speak? Does he know anything
a lot abo
rest in the sources of your political opinions. They will probably, like your father's, differ from mine. You may not know that your father has not only opinions, but ambitions." She saw Grace st
would ever come to her. She rather thought not. But she was also conscious of a new attitude among the three at the table, her mother's tense wat
e purpose other than graft," said Howard. "I am goi
r views, or perhaps I should say, in Willy Cameron's. Does y
you be elec
ause my nam
hony ch
at the mill? And the laundries for the women-which I believe they do not
sir." Howard, in his forties, sti
it your defea
er a formidab
t this is a matter of a principle with your father. He believes that he should serve. My whole contention is that the people don't want to be served. T
and sipped
'm buying all I can lay my hands o
mellow, like old wine. And-what was she going to do with herself? Already the atmosphere of the house b
her own awkwardness annoyed her. In the dining room she could hear the men talking, Howard quietly, his father in short staccato barks.
s, mother," she said, "I don't know what to do wi
of course," Grace said. "Lent, and then so many of
e just co
And there will be small dinners. You'll have to get some clo
why doesn't he want fath
hesi
thing. But I don't know anythin
keep him from
dly think he would oppose him. I reall
Well, I do, mother. He has run every
il
s badly governed, and that he is responsible. And now he is going to fight his own son! The
y toward the door. "You ar
u d
And I only go onc
arried a poor man,
is running a Socialist newspaper, and now he is inciting the mill men to
an by terrible
tion. I believe he calls it a general st
ondere
is it? But even then-is all this beca
elieves what he preaches. He ought to be put into jail. Why the coun
else Willy Cameron had sai
nd now we've got free speech. And one's as bad as the
ht fire, its bed neatly turned down, her dressing gown and slippers laid out, the shaded lamps shining on the gold and ivory of her dressing table, she was conscious of a sudden homesickness. Homesickness for her bare little room in the
ed for those men who might look up at the sky, or down at the earth, but never out and across, to see the spring trees, for instance, or the children playing on the grass.
lking the Military Police, doing forbidden things generally. Was that, after all, what freedom meant, to do the forbidden thing? Those people in
d she rang her bell, a
e to bed," she said. "If she has
oked slight
ardew has asked me to look after you
lly. "I rather like doing it myse
er scandalized Castle who co