“It all came from one moment of foolishness. It had no real existence. I spoke as I should not have spoken, but what I said was nothing and is being blown out of my heart and out of my head at this very moment....”
But, the next day, waking from a calm sleep, he asked himself:
“Is it not just the unutterable things in us that matter more than anything else to us ... and to those who made us divine them?...”
Chapter XIV
A day or two later, Marianne called:
“Auntie,” she said, “I haven’t seen you for days. What’s the matter? Are you vexed with me?”
“Why, no, Marianne.”
“Yes, there’s something. You’re cross with me. Tell me that you’re not cross with me. I haven’t dined with you for an age. You are vexed with me because I invited myself. Tell me that I’m mistaken, that you’re not vexed with me. And do ask me to dinner again, one day.... It’s such a busy time just now: parties, dinners, the Court ball the other night. It was very boring.... We never see you. You never call on us. Nor Uncle either. It’s all through that Brauws man.”
Constance started, with that strange nervous catch in her throat: