"You're not afraid for me, are you? Of course, when I was so stupid the
other day, it was only because--because--"
"I'm not afraid," he said, touching up the pony. "I think you manage it
very fairly well. I don't care about it for you--that's all. Except
quite in the country."
Her dismay was so evident that he turned and looked at her.
"My darling, do you really mind very much? For my sake?"
"For your sake?--oh no," faltered Claudia. "It isn't the bicycling,
but--I--I thought we should have done so much together, and--do you mean
that you have always disliked it?"
"I don't object to it in some places, or when it isn't carried to
extremes. Besides, there are sure to be occasional opportunities." He
had her hand in his, and she could but smile and submit, and resolve
that there should be no opposition where he felt so strongly. Perhaps,
though he disclaimed it, the accident had left him nervous on her
account, and, by-and-by, when he had forgotten, his dislike would
subside. But, to her dismay, she found that many things of which he had
hitherto spoken lightly, and, as she thought, approvingly, were not at
all to his taste under the altered condition of things. She began to be
aware that he was binding her round with small restrictions, pushing her
into the very groove against which she had revolted, and, worse than
all, ridiculing the revolt itself. He no longer restrained his mockery
of her enthusiasms, enthusiasms which she had fondly imagined he shared.
If she talked politics, Fenwick's face darkened at the opinions she
expressed, and he told her in so many words that he did not wish her to
allude to professional duties, or even to think about them any more. It
is true that these demands were sweetened by the passionate vibrations
of the voice in which he told her that he loved her, and at such moments
all sacrifice for love seemed joy; but when she was alone her thoughts
were not so restful and satisfied as in the first days. She even began
to long for a breathing space at Elmslie, when she would no longer be
swept away by his impetuous will, and could, as it were, stand, recover
her breath, and face the changed view in which life confronted her.
It came at last. Fenwick intended to have taken her himself to Elmslie,
but was summoned to Aldershot a day sooner than he expected. And
Claudia, Claudia who despised those girls who could not travel alone,
was obliged to put up with the guardianship of Lady Wilmot's maid, and
to go first class, with her beloved bicycle in the luggage-van.