The family circle had grown much more stiff and quiet,
and the chief difference caused by Mrs. Poynsett's presence was that
Raymond was deprived of his refuge in her room. Cecil had taken a
line of polite contempt. There was always a certain languid amount
of indifferent conversation, 'from the teeth outward,' as Rosamond
said. Every home engagement was submitted to the elder lady with
elaborate scrupulousness, almost like irony. Visitors in the house
or invitations out of it, were welcome breaks, and the whirl of
society which vaguely alarmed Joanna Bowater was a relief to the
inhabitants of the Hall.
Anne's companionship was not lively for her mother-in-law, but she
was brightening in the near prospect of Miles's return, and they had
established habits that carried them well through the evening. Anne
covered screens and made scrap-books, and did other work for the
bazaar; and Mrs. Poynsett cut out pictures, made suggestions, and
had associations of her own with the combinations of which Anne had
little notion. Or she dictated letters which Anne wrote, and
through all these was a kindly, peaceful spirit, most unlike the
dreary alienation in which Cecil persevered.
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