Only it could not be apart from Mrs. Trevor. If she went to East Bourne, Mrs. Trevor would have triumphed. That decided Hermione.
"Oh, we won't hear any 'but'! You must come, you positively must," Mrs. Dalton was declaring. "Just to be at home, my dear, for as long as you like, and to do exactly whatever you choose."
It was very kind. Hermione could not but be sensible of the kindness, even while she shrank from the thought of the companionship. There seemed, however, to be no other alternative. It had come to East Bourne or the Daltons! And since the former meant the yielding of her own will, and the chance of a triumphant glance from Mrs. Trevor, Hermione chose the latter.
In ten minutes all was settled, but Hermione could not get away then. Mrs. Dalton refused to listen to any suggestion about departure. Hermione was to stay till five o'clock tea; and then she had to see this, to hear that, to discuss the other, until it was too late for her to think of walking home alone. The sense of obligation put her doubly into their power, and there was not among the Daltons that delicacy of feeling which would have made them fall in at once with her evident wish to leave.
The afternoon at last was gone, and Hermione found herself driving homeward in the Daltons' carriage, with Miss Dalton by her side. Miss Dalton talked ceaselessly, and Hermione listened, putting in a word now and then. Not many such words were requisite. A Dalton could always flow on indefinitely, with small exterior help, and Mr. Dalton alone of the three ever appealed to others for their opinions.
Poor Hermione! It was not interesting talk. She was getting very tired of it already, after only two or three hours of intercourse. How would she feel after weeks of intercourse?
But she had taken her deliberate choice.
When Hermione came in at the front door, Mittie met her, with scared look and tear-swollen eyes.
"O cousin Hermione! have you heard?"
Hermione had found the front door on the latch—unwontedly late—and had entered without ringing, after an effusive farewell from Miss Dalton. The effusiveness vexed Hermione, though she did her best to conceal vexation and to respond only with a gentle dignity. "For of course it is most kind of them," Hermione thought— "most kind, and I am really grateful. But I do not intend to be drawn into an intimacy. I see no need for that. We shall continue on pleasant terms—nothing beyond."