As the trolley bore her townward she decided that all things
considered she had come off fairly well in the encounter; but she
was not jubilant. She had probably established her right to go and
come as she pleased, but the victory brought her no happiness.
Ethel’s conciliatory words meant nothing; it was her sister’s way
to manifest forbearance and tolerance, to smooth things over when
there had been a clash between them. Grace had for her mother a real
affection, sincerely admiring the effort she made to keep in touch
with the best thought of the world--a pet phrase of Mrs. Durland’s.
Mrs. Durland was kind, unselfish, well-meaning. She meant to live up
to her ideal of motherhood. It was despicable to lie to her. Grace’s
conscience was now busy tearing down the defenses behind which she
had excused herself for going to Kemp’s party. Any uncertainty as to
Irene’s relations with the manufacturer were dispelled by the visit
to The Shack. The fact that Kemp’s money made it possible to surround
the relationship with a degree of glamour did not mitigate the ugly
fact. It might be that the people who talked so dolefully of the new
generation and the low ebb to which old-fashioned morals had sunk were
right. Irene’s affair with Kemp presented a situation which, if greatly
multiplied, would mean the destruction of all that made womanhood
precious.
Could she, Grace Durland, ever be like that? What was to prevent her
from doing exactly what Irene was doing or falling even lower? Nothing,
she pondered, but her own will and innate sense of righteousness.
She would have no excuse for following Irene’s example. The home she
had just left really stood for all those things she had been taught
to believe were essential to right living. Her mother, with all her
failings and weaknesses, had labored hard to implant in her children
the principles of honor and rectitude. And her father, pitiful figure
though he was, was a man of ideals and a pattern of morality. He
believed in her; he was her friend and it would be shameful to do
aught to bring disgrace upon him. And with an accession of generosity
as she pondered, Grace saw Ethel, too, in a different light. With
all her offensive assumption of saintly airs Ethel’s ideas of human
conduct were sound. Ethel was a disagreeable person to live with, but
nevertheless she was not always wrong. She had indubitably been right
about Irene Kirby.
As Grace left the car she saw by a street clock that she still had ten
minutes in which to report at the store and she loitered, eager to
remain in the open as long as possible. And she rather dreaded meeting
Irene.