Of course, she had seen him with Alicia, and must have drawn her
conclusions. Four months after the breach with her!--and such a breach!
As he walked beside her through the radiant scented garden, with its
massed roses and delphiniums, its tangle of poppy and lupin, he suddenly
beheld himself as a kind of outcast--distrusted and disliked by an old
friend like Chide, separated forever from the good opinion of this girl
whom he had loved, suspected even by his mother, and finally crushed by
this unexpected tragedy, and by the shock of Barrington's
unpardonable behavior.
Then his whole being reacted in a fierce protesting irritation. He had
been the victim of circumstance as much as she. His will hardened to a
passionate self-defence; he flung off, he held at bay, an anguish that
must and should be conquered. He had to live his life. He would live it.
They passed into the orchard, where, amid the old trees, covered with
tiny green apples, some climbing roses were running at will, hanging
their trails of blossom, crimson and pale pink, from branch to branch.
Linnets and blackbirds made a pleasant chatter; the grass beneath the
trees was rich and soft, and through their tops, one saw white clouds
hovering in a blazing blue.
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