‘Which is as much as to say that you give it up. You are very fond of that word instinct; I wish you would not use it.’
‘I have heard you use it, and say you instinctively like this person or that.’
‘Certainly; I do not deny that sometimes I am drawn to a person or repelled from him before I can say why; but I always force myself to discover afterwards the cause of my attraction or repulsion, and I believe it is a duty to do so. If we neglect it we are little better than the brutes, and may grossly deceive ourselves.’
At this moment the sound of wheels was heard, and Madge jumped up, nearly over-setting the board, and rushed into the front room. It was the four-horse coach from London, which, once a day, passed through Fenmarket on its road to Lincoln. It was not the direct route from London to Lincoln, but the Defiance went this way to accommodate Fenmarket and other small towns. It slackened speed in order to change horses at the ‘Crown and Sceptre,’ and as Madge stood at the window, a gentleman on the box-seat looked at her intently as he passed. In another minute he had descended, and was welcomed by the landlord, who stood on the pavement. Clara meanwhile had taken up a book, but before she had read a page, her sister skipped into the parlour again, humming a tune.
‘Let me see—check, you said, but it is not mate.’
She put her elbows on the table, rested her head between her hands, and appeared to contemplate the game profoundly.
‘Now, then, what do you say to that?’
It was really a very lucky move, and Clara, whose thoughts perhaps were elsewhere, was presently most unaccountably defeated. Madge was triumphant.
‘Where are all your deep-laid schemes? Baffled by a poor creature who can hardly put two and two together.’
‘Perhaps your schemes were better than mine.’