Mrs. Fairfax was about to reply, when the expression which she habitually wore like a mask in society, wavered and broke. Her lip trembled: her eyes filled with tears: she rose with a sniff that was half a sob. When she spoke, her voice was sincere for the first time, and at the sound of it Conolly’s steely, hard manner melted, and his inhuman self-possession vanished.
“You think,” she said, “that I came here to make mischief. I did not. Marian is nothing to me: she does not even like me; but I dont want to see her ruin herself merely because she is too inexperienced to know when she is well off. I have had to fight my way in London: and I know what it is, and what the world is. She is not fit to take charge of herself. Good-bye, Mr. Conolly: you are a great deal too young yourself to know the danger, for all your cleverness. You may tell her that I came here and gossipped against her, if you like. She will never speak to me again; but if it saves her, I dont care. Good-bye.”
“My dear Mrs. Fairfax,” he said, with entire frankness, “I am now deeply and sincerely obliged to you.” And in proof that he was touched, he kissed her hand with the ease and grace of a man who had been carefully taught how to do it. Mrs. Fairfax recovered herself and almost blushed as he went with her to the door, chatting easily about the weather and the Addison Road trains.
She was not the last visitor that evening. She had hardly been fifteen minutes gone when the Rev. George presented himself, and was conducted to the laboratory, where he found Conolly, with his coat off, surrounded by apparatus. The glowing fire, comfortable chairs, and preparations for an evening meal, gladdened him more than the presence of his brother-in-law, with whom he never felt quite at ease.
“You wont mind my fiddling with these machines while I talk,” said Conolly.
“Not at all, not at all. I shall witness your operations with great interest. You must not think that the wonders of science are indifferent to me.”
“So you are going on to Sark, you say?”
“Yes. May I ask whether you will be persuaded to come?”
“No, for certain. I have other fish to fry here.”
“I think it would renovate your health to come for a few days.”