"I have. Never imagined anything so uncanny. The eyes, you know. Same old delphinium blue—but that might be explained away as a freak of Nature. Not much the identical trick of screwing 'em up and blinking at you! That's what betrays the whereabouts of Pussy."
"I don't care what he's told her. She's been married and is certainly no fool. She must be a good sort."
And, in that capacity, Ferlie found herself welcomed by the male population of the station when she, perforcedly, began to drift in and out of social gatherings. She was inclined to regret the precious hours thus wasted outside the borders of their Kingdom.
"We have so much past unhappiness to overtake, as yet, Cyprian."
But a whole year had slipped by and he decided that it was wiser that she should make friends with people now that she had no longer any excuse for isolation.
She had received a curious epistle from Clifford, through Aunt Brillianna, to whom he had sent it under the impression that Ferlie was occupying some Villa of hers in Italy.
"I hope you will agree," he wrote, "that I have, at least, proved myself no dog-in-the-manger. The only thing which might make it necessary for me to worry you with divorce proceedings would be if anything happened to John.
"You see, granted that you are right in considering the Greville-Mainwarings a decadent lot, it remains my job to carry on the line somehow, and the heirs would have to be legitimate. I am not actually apologizing for any lurid behaviour (as you might describe it) of the last four years, but I have notions of fair play and we are not living in the reign of the lady who wept to wear a crown. I might have more reason to weep if she were wearing it now.
"Mercifully, matrimony is not, these days, the shackled and testamentary thing it was reckoned to be before the Jews originally lost Jerusalem. If ever you outgrow your mysterious ideas and want to marry again, let me know and I'll see what I can do for you. For myself, I am content with the present position so long as there is John to carry on the title some time or other.
"I wish you well, Ferlie, and, if it comforts you, I do not think it would do any harm if you occasionally prayed for my unregenerate soul."