"Poor wretch, Oedipus! He never meant any one any harm—did he?—and yet—you see!
"'Apollo, friends, Apollo it was, that brought all these my woes, my sore, sore woes!—to pass.'
"Dear Mrs. Elsmere!—you can't think what a good doctrine it is after all—how it steadies one! What chance have we against these blundering gods?
"Nothing one can do makes any difference. It is, really very consoling if you come to think of it; and it's no sort of good being angry with Apollo!"
* * * * *
"Part nonsense, part bravado," said Catharine, raising clear eyes, with half a smile in them, to Meynell. "But it makes one anxious."
His puckered brow showed his assent.
"As soon as the trial is over—within a fortnight certainly—I shall run over to see them."
* * * * *
Meynell and Mary travelled to town together, and Mary was duly deposited for a few days with some Kensington cousins.