" She looked at him
full, then left him.
Mrs. Wilmot stayed for the better part of a week longer than she had
intended, and then, perceiving by subtle but unmistakeable signs that she
would wiselier go, went. To Wanless that had been a week of strain; the
air was charged with trouble. One could not have pointed to anything--it
was beyond the range of weathercock or glass; but everybody felt it.
Sanchia, graver than she was wont to be, pushed herself sharply from duty
to duty, and avoided sympathy by a dry manner. Or she was obtuse,
affecting a foolish interest in trivialities. She never went into the
garden, and saw nothing of young Glyde. Mrs. Benson, glooming thunder from
her brows, Minnie with scare in her russet eyes turned Purcell's feasts
into fasts. The wiry tire-woman, to do her justice, was as uncomfortable
as any of them; but loyalty spurred her to feats of endurance undreamed of
by any but servants. They, in a world of their own, where speech is rare,
and skins rarer, where everything must be done by glances and hints, are
perhaps more aware of themselves than any other children of men. They are
for ever judging their betters; how shall they escape from judgment of
each other? Judge not, says the Book; but if you pry for vice, what can
you be yourself but a prying-ground? So Purcell agonised, and felt her
very vitals under the hooks.
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