“Mr. Leith must go to the Embassy. But what he has been through has developed in him a sort of wildness that is almost like that of an animal. If he saw an outstretched hand he would probably bolt.”
“And yet he’s sitting in your pavilion.”
“Because he knows he won’t see any outstretched hand there. He was here for two days without coming near me, and even then he only came because I had taken no notice of him.”
“I know. You spread the food outside, go indoors and close the shutters, and then, when no one is looking, it creeps up, takes the food, and vanishes.”
“A very great grief eats away the conventions, and beneath the conventions there is always something strongly animal.”
For a moment Lady Ingleton looked at Mrs. Clarke and was silent. Then she said, very quietly and simply:
“Does he realize yet how cruel you are?”
“He isn’t thinking about me.”
“But he will.”
Mrs. Clarke stared at the wall for a minute. Then she said: