“What in the world is the matter with you? Have you gone stone deaf? I
have spoken to you three times, and you haven’t turned a hair.” He was
aroused from his musings by Vine’s raucous voice.
“I suppose my mind was wandering. What do you want, dear?”
“What were you thinking?” Her eyes were dark with suspicion.
“I--I believe I was thinking about old Selim, the saddle horse ... you
know, Vine, that Dr. Schubert used to ride when the roads were too
muddy for the buggy. And what sore places the saddle would make on
the poor old fellow’s back--and how the sores would turn into kindly
calluses after the saddle had been worn a few weeks. It was taking the
saddle off, and putting it back on again, that made the new sores. It
would be better never to feel relief from the calloused places than to
have to harden them all over again.”
“Yes! I wish I had never gone to Bromfield. Not that the trip didn’t
benefit my health wonderfully. But we wouldn’t be in all this trouble
if I had stayed at home. And the worst of it isn’t Eileen, either. I
had to give in to let Larimore marry that grass widow. That’s the part
that can’t be so easily undone.”
“Vine!” David Trench towered his full height, his face stiff with
indignation. “Have you no decency, no gratitude, no human kindness in
your heart? For shame, to let such words pass your lips!”
Lavinia laughed, a strangled, empty giggle, while the red crept up her
neck.
“I was only joking. Larimore says I have no sense of humour. I think
you are the one who can’t see a joke.”
“I can’t see a joke in things that are not to be joked about. Judith
is a noble woman and she has saved you from disgrace. We are the last
people in the world who have a moral right to bring up her past. We all
make mistakes, even you--”
“I made the mistake of my life when I married a man who always sides
against me, no matter what comes up.” She began to weep loudly.