The period of Mr. Budd's probation could scarcely have cost him as much
mental anguish as it caused his would-be parents-in-law.
Mrs. Lethbury, by various ruses, tried to shorten the ordeal, but Jane
remained inexorable; and each morning Lethbury came down to breakfast
with the certainty of finding a letter of withdrawal from her
discouraged suitor.
When at length the decisive day came, and Mrs. Lethbury, at its close,
stole into the library with an air of chastened joy, they stood for a
moment without speaking; then Mrs. Lethbury paid a fitting tribute to
the proprieties by faltering out: "It will be dreadful to have to give
her up--"
Lethbury could not repress a warning gesture; but even as it escaped
him, he realized that his wife's grief was genuine.
"Of course, of course," he said, vainly sounding his own emotional
shallows for an answering regret. And yet it was his wife who had
suffered most from Jane!
He had fancied that these sufferings would be effaced by the milder
atmosphere of their last weeks together; but felicity did not soften
Jane. Not for a moment did she relax her dominion: she simply widened
it to include a new subject. Mr. Budd found himself under orders with
the others; and a new fear assailed Lethbury as he saw Jane assume
prenuptial control of her betrothed. Lethbury had never felt any strong
personal interest in Mr. Budd; but, as Jane's prospective husband, the
young man excited his sympathy. To his surprise, he found that Mrs.
Lethbury shared the feeling.
"I'm afraid he may find Jane a little exacting," she said, after an
evening dedicated to a stormy discussion of the wedding arrangements.
"She really ought to make some concessions. If he _wants_ to be married
in a black frock-coat instead of a dark gray one--" She paused and
looked doubtfully at Lethbury.
"What can I do about it?" he said.
"You might explain to him--tell him that Jane isn't always--"
Lethbury made an impatient gesture. "What are you afraid of? His
finding her out or his not finding her out?"