Ashe made a sign of assent.
"Except," he added, with emotion, "that I have heard, only to-day, that if Kitty wishes it, her old friend Miss French will go out to her at once, nurse her, and travel with her as long as she pleases. Miss French's brother has just married, and she is at liberty. She is most deeply attached to Kitty, and as soon as she heard Lady Alice's report of her state she forgot everything else. Can you not persuade—Kitty"—he looked up urgently—"to accept her offer?"
"I doubt it," said the Dean, sadly. "There is only one thing she pines for, and without it she will be a sick child crossed. Ah! well—well! So to allow her to share your life again—however humbly and intermittently—is impossible?"
It seemed to the Dean that a shudder passed through the man beside him.
"Impossible," said Ashe, sharply. "But not only for private reasons."
"You mean your public duty stands in the way?"
"Kitty left me of her own free will. I have put my hand to the plough again—and I cannot turn back. You can see for yourself that I am not at my own disposal—I belong to my party, to the men with whom I act, who have behaved to me with the utmost generosity."
"Of course Lady Kitty could no longer share your public life. But at Haggart—in seclusion?"
"You know what her personality is—how absorbing—how impossible to forget! No—if she returned to me, on any terms whatever, all the old conditions would begin again. I should inevitably have to leave politics."
"And that—you are not prepared to do?"