But Muriel
would not have allowed him to say a word before departure had it not
been for Diana--and the doctor--who were suddenly found to have entered,
in regard to this matter, upon a league and covenant not to be resisted.
Whether the doctor opened Diana's eyes need not be inquired; it is
certain that if, all the while, in Oliver's room, she and Lady Lucy had
not been wrestling hour by hour with death--or worse--Diana would have
wanted no one to open them. When she did understand, there was no
opposing her. She pleaded--not without tears--to be given the happiness
of knowing they were pledged, and her Muriel safe in harbor. So
Roughsedge had his say; a quiet engagement began its course in the
world; Brookshire as yet knew nothing; and the doctor triumphed
over Patricia.
During this time Sir James Chide watched the development of a situation
he had not been able to change with a strange mixture of revolt and
sympathy. Sometimes he looked beyond the tragedy which he thought
inevitable to a recovered and normal life for Diana; sometimes he felt a
dismal certainty that when Oliver had left her, that recovered life
could only shape itself to ascetic and self-renouncing ends.
Pages:
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709