“Katie, if you let things go, if you let Mother have her way, one of two things will happen; either Philip won’t be able to stand it and will vanish to Russia, or he’ll endure it, will be smothered by us all, and there’ll only be the corpse left for your enjoyment.
“Katie!” Her eyes shone with excitement, her voice quivered with the thrill of her intensity. “You must marry him now—whilst you’re in London. You must chuck us all, show Mother that Philip comes before everything, take it into your own hands, send that Russian woman’s ghost back to Russia ... just as Browning and Mrs. Browning did, slip off one day, buy some smelling-salts at the chemist’s and be married!”
She laughed. She clapped her hands.
“Oh! Katie! Katie!... It’s the only way, the only possible way!”
But Katherine replied: “You’re wrong, Millie. I can keep it all. I will keep it all. I love Phil, but I love Mother and you and Henry and This—This—all of it. If I were to marry Phil now Mother would never forgive me—you know that she would not. I could never come back. I must lose it all.”
“You’d rather lose Philip then?”
“No. That never!”
“Well—Anna’s after him, Katie. Russia’s after him. He’s awfully unhappy—and you’re unfair. You’re giving him nothing, not even himself. You say that you love him, but you want things all your way. I tell you you deserve to lose ...” then suddenly softening again: “But I’ll help you, Katie dear, whatever way it is. Oh! I’m so glad that we’ve spoken. We’re together now, and nothing can part us.”
Katherine caught her hand and held her close. “What would Mother do, do you think, if she knew about Anna?” she said, at last.
“I don’t know,” Millie answered, “Mother’s so strange. I believe she’d do nothing. She’d know that if she dismissed him she’d lose you.”