Jeanette had revealed the traits of character she most disliked. In a crisis she had not been honorable. This did not seem possible in her father's daughter, yet with days and weeks in which to confess her fault, she had shown no sign of wishing to speak, not the slightest inclination toward repentance.
Jeanette's one expressed wish had been to turn her back upon her family and friends and completely change her environment. By this she expected to escape any consequences of her own misdoing.
Was she altogether sure of this? Had there never been moments when she had glimpsed an altered expression upon Jeanette's face, an unconscious drooping of her shoulders, a more wistful curve to her lips.
Gazing about the old lodge sitting-room, still filled with so many recollections of her own girlhood and the girlhood of the former Ranch Girls, Jack, now the wife of her former guardian, was more concerned with the problem of her own nature than with the faults of her stepdaughter.
In the last ten days she realized that she no longer liked Jeanette, nor wished her to continue a member of their household. No longer did she desire to gain her friendship, or to bring her to a different state of mind.
It was her chief weakness of character to feel an insufficient charity toward the human beings who offended against her own code. If Jeanette had no sense of honor she would never be able to teach her to acquire it.
Within the next few moments Jack was expecting her husband to join her. Should she confess to him that she did not wish Jeanette to remain at home? Should she tell him that the problem was too great for her and was making her unhappy? He would at once consent that Jeanette go away to school and even allow her to pay Jeanette's expenses rather than see her disturbed. In their original discussion of the subject this side of the question had not occurred to him.
Some one was riding toward the house.
Walking over to the window, Jack looked out.
The figure on horseback was not her husband, whom she looked for, but Cecil Perry.