She undressed and went to bed. For hours she wriggled restlessly between lavender-scented sheets. Then she dropped off into a troubled sleep.
II
She awoke at the usual time, jumped out of bed, went to the window, and gazed into the garden. The incomparable freshness of early morning fell like dew upon her still tired mind. The rains of two days had been absorbed by the thirsty earth; the sun shone again in cloudless skies.
And Brian lay dead in France!
It was delightful to think that all her memories of him were happy. But why had he been taken and she left? What design underlay these heart-breaking separations? They had been so jolly together. But she recalled, with an odd pang that always, always, they had sought the sunshine and shunned the shadows. Love of ease had enwrapped them from the cradle. And if Grimshaw were right, if love of ease were a parasitic growth like moss, if it strangled other growths, must it be raked out ruthlessly and cast as rubbish to the void? He had said, upon that memorable evening when Arthur and he met for the first time, when subconsciously she had compared the two men, arriving intuitively at a right understanding of each, that some great discipline might change character. What effect had Brian’s death had upon her?
She couldn’t answer the insistent question percolating through jaded tissues.
At breakfast Lady Selina glowed maternally. No mention was made of Snitterfield and Gridley. A letter from Lord Saltaire was read aloud:
“My dear Selina” (it ran).—“I am rejoiced to hear of little Cicely’s engagement. From my personal knowledge of Wilverley she has chosen well and wisely. I hope that I shall enjoy the privilege of giving the bride away. Tell her, with my love, that I shall send her a tiara. As I cannot afford to buy diamonds, I shall give her the one that I chose for my wife, which does not belong to the family jewels. If you think it old-fashioned, I can have it re-set. . . .”
Lady Selina laid down the letter and said solemnly:
“Your uncle is the most generous of men. The tiara is simply magnificent—pearls and diamonds. It won’t need re-setting. It was bought in the rue de la Paix.”