changed. He caught a glimpse of what she meant, wild and heretical as it was to him, challenging all the rules he knew, overturning all order concerning the rights and obligations of the strong to protect the weak, to govern them for their own
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good-whatever their wishes. Then as he gazed at her those thoughts passed away; a conflict remained which Charlotte watched him wrestle with for several more minutes, while the clock on the mantelshelf ticked on, and far away someone dropped a tray in the kitchen.
'My wife was of fragile mind and disposition, madame. You did not know her. She was given to sudden fancies, and very easily prevailed upon by charlatans and people of feverish imagination. They sought money from her. That was not in her letters, perhaps, but it is so, and I was afraid of her being taken advantage of. I forbade them the house, as any man of responsibility would.'
He swallowed hard, composing himself with difficulty, banishing the horror he had caught such a dreadful sight of for an instant, forcing the words out.
' 'I misjudged her. She was more vulnerable to their blandishments than I realized, and in poor health, which affected her mind. I appreciate now that I should have called medical help for her long before I did. I imagined she was being willful, whereas she was in truth suffering delusions from fever, and the effects of designing people. I regret my actions; you do not know how I regretted them, how I have done over the years.''
Charlotte felt her mastery was slipping away, somehow he was twisting what she had said. 'But you had no right to decide what she should believe!'' she cried out. ' 'No one has the right to choose for someone else! How dare you? How dare you presume to judge another person as to what they should want? It is not protection, it is ... it is ...' She searched for the word. 'It is dominion! And it is
'It is the duty of the strong and the able to protect the weak, madame, and especially those born or given into their charge. And you will find that society will thank you little for seeking to make a profit out of my family's misfortune.''
'And what about Elsie Draper? What about her life? You shut her away in a madhouse!'
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A very slight smile touched the comers of his mouth.
'And do you contend, madame, that she was not mad?'
'Not when you put her away, no!' Charlotte was losing, and she saw it in his face, heard it in the stronger, calmer tone in his voice.
'You had better leave, madame. There is nothing for you here. If you write your book, and you mention the name of anyone in my family, I shall sue you for libel, and society will reject you for the cheap adventuress you are. Good day. My footman will show you out.' And he rang the bell.
Five minutes later Charlotte was sitting in the carriage as the horses plodded slowly through the freezing fog down Bethlehem Road and back towards the Westminster Bridge and the darkness of the river. She had failed. She had not done more than shake his complacency for a few moments- just that brief space when he had glimpsed the idea that he had been guilty of a monstrous oppression. Then self-justification had swept back and everything was as before; he was powerful, complacent, secure. To think that she had even been frightened! How needless-he had dismissed her without any emotion but disgust. He had not even asked for the letters!
They were coming down onto the bridge now; she heard the difference in the echo of the horses' hooves. The fog was very dense and the ice slippery on the stones. She felt the occasional jolt as an animal lost and regained its footing.
What were they stopping for?
There was a rap on the carriage door and Forbes opened it.
'Ma'am, there is a gentleman wishes to speak to you.'
'A gentleman?'
'Yes. He said it was confidential, if you would not mind stepping out for a moment; it would be more decorous than his climbing in.'
'Who is it?'
'I don't know, ma'am. I don't recognize him, and to tell 308
the truth, I wouldn't
