"I was wrong!"—he said, half aloud—"And yet I was right! I should not have said what I did,—and yet I should! If no man is ever bold enough to protest again the voluntary and fast-increasing self- degradation of women, then men will be most to blame if the next generation of wives and mothers are shameless, unsexed, indecorous, and wholly unworthy of their life's mission. How angry she looked! Possibly she will never speak to me again. Well, what does it matter! The wider apart our paths are set, the better!"
He reached the gate of the courtyard, and was about to pass through it, when a little fluttering figure in white, with crimson in its rough dark hair, rushed after him. It was Cicely.
"Don't go, please Mr. Walden!" she said, breathlessly; and he saw, even by the light of the moon, that her eyes were wet—"Please don't go! Maryllia wishes to speak to you."
He turned a pale, composed face upon her.
"Where?"
"In the picture-gallery. She is alone there. She saw you cross the courtyard, and sent me after you. All the other people are in the drawing-room, waiting to hear me sing—and I must run, for Gigue is there, and he is so impatient! Please, Mr. Walden!"—and Cicely's voice shook—"Please don't mind if Maryllia is angry! She IS angry! But it's all on the surface—she doesn't really mean it—she wouldn't be unkind for all the world! I know what you said,—I was watching the dinner-party from the ante-room and I saw everything— and—and—I think you were just splendid!—it's horrid for women to smoke—but they nearly all do it nowadays—only I never saw Maryllia do it before, and oh, Mr. Walden, make it all right with her, please!"
For a moment John hesitated. Then a kind smile softened his features.
"I can't quite promise that, Cicely,—but I'll do my best!" And taking her hand he patted it gently, as she furtively dashed one or two tear-drops from her lashes—"Come, come, you mustn't cry! Run away and sing like the little nightingale you are—don't fret—-"
"But you'll go to Maryllia, won't you?" she urged, anxiously.
"Yes. I'll go!"