"No."
II
The same overhanging spirit of a great event which had somehow justified him in being curt to the boy, rendered him self-conscious and furtive as he stood in the porch of the Orgreaves, waiting for the door to open. Along the drive that curved round the oval lawn under the high trees were wheel-marks still surviving from the previous day. The house also survived; the curtains in all the windows, and the plants or the pieces of furniture between the curtains, were exactly as usual. Yet the solid building and its contents had the air of an illusion.
A servant appeared.
"Good afternoon, Selina."
He had probably never before called her by name, but to-day his self-consciousness impelled him to do uncustomary things.
"Good afternoon, sir," said Selina, whose changeless attire ignored even the greatest events. And it was as if she had said:
"Ah, sir! To what have we come!"
She too was self-conscious and furtive.
Aloud she said: