At first Lethbury congratulated himself on the change;
but Jane's domesticity soon began to weigh on him. During the day
she was sometimes absent on errands of mercy; but in the evening she
was always there. At first she and Mrs. Lethbury sat in the
drawing-room together, and Lethbury smoked in the library; but
presently Jane formed the habit of joining him there, and he began
to suspect that he was included among the objects of her
philanthropy.
Mrs. Lethbury confirmed the suspicion. "Jane has grown very
serious-minded lately," she said. "She imagines that she used to
neglect you, and she is trying to make up for it. Don't discourage
her," she added innocently.
Such a plea delivered Lethbury helpless to his daughter's
ministrations: and he found himself measuring the hours he spent
with her by the amount of relief they must be affording her mother.
There were even moments when he read a furtive gratitude in Mrs.
Lethbury's eye.
But Lethbury was no hero, and he had nearly reached the limit of
vicarious endurance when something wonderful happened. They never
quite knew afterward how it had come about, or who first perceived
it; but Mrs. Lethbury one day gave tremulous voice to their
inferences.
"Of course," she said, "he comes here because of Elise." The young
lady in question, a friend of Jane's, was possessed of attractions
which had already been found to explain the presence of masculine
visitors.
Lethbury risked a denial. "I don't think he does," he declared.
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