第84章

Wehaveall，atonetimeoranotherinourlives，beenperplexedasSirPatrickwasperplexednow。

Ifweknowanythingbyexperience，weknowthatwomencastthemselvesawayimpulsivelyonunworthymen，andthatmenruinthemselvesheadlongforunworthywomen。WehavetheinstitutionofDivorceactuallyamongus，existingmainlybecausethetwosexesareperpetuallyplacingthemselvesintheseanomalousrelationstowardeachother。Andyet，ateveryfreshinstancewhichcomesbeforeus，wepersistinbeingastonishedtofindthatthemanandthewomanhavenotchoseneachotheronrationalandproduciblegrounds!Weexpecthumanpassiontoactonlogicalprinciples；andhumanfallibility——withloveforitsguide——tobeabovealldangerofmakingamistake!AskthewisestamongAnneSilvester’ssexwhattheysawtorationallyjustifytheminchoosingthementowhomtheyhavegiventheirheartsandtheirlives，andyouwillbeputtingaquestiontothosewisewomenwhichtheyneveroncethoughtofputtingtothemselves。Nay，morestill。Lookintoyourownexperience，andsayfrankly，Couldyoujustifyyourownexcellentchoiceatthetimewhenyouirrevocablymadeit？Couldyouhaveputyourreasonsonpaperwhenyoufirstownedtoyourselfthatyoulovedhim？Andwouldthereasonshavebornecriticalinspectionifyouhad？

SirPatrickgaveitupindespair。Theinterestsofhisniecewereatstake。Hewiselydeterminedtorousehismindbyoccupyinghimselfwiththepracticalnecessitiesofthemoment。

Itwasessentialtosendanapologytotherector，inthefirstplace，soastoleavetheeveningathisdisposalforconsideringwhatpreliminarycourseofconductheshouldadviseArnoldtopursue。

AfterwritingafewlinesofapologytohispartneratPiquet——assigningfamilybusinessastheexcuseforbreakinghisengagement——SirPatrickrangthebell。ThefaithfulDuncanappeared，andsawatonceinhismastersfacethatsomethinghadhappened。

“SendamanwiththistotheRectory，“saidSirPatrick。“Ican’tdineoutto-day。Imusthaveachopathome。“

“Iamafraid，SirPatrick——ifImaybeexcusedforremarkingit——youhavehadsomebadnews？“

“Theworstpossiblenews，Duncan。Ican’ttellyouaboutitnow。

Waitwithinhearingofthebell。Inthemeantimeletnobodyinterruptme。IfthestewardhimselfcomesIcan’tseehim。“

Afterthinkingitovercarefully，SirPatrickdecidedthattherewasnoalternativebuttosendamessagetoArnoldandBlanche，summoningthembacktoEnglandinthefirstplace。ThenecessityofquestioningArnold，intheminutestdetail，astoeverythingthathadhappenedbetweenAnneSilvesterandhimselfattheCraigFernieinn，wasthefirstandforemostnecessityofthecase。

Atthesametimeitappearedtobedesirable，forBlanche’ssake，tokeepherinignorance，forthepresentatleast，ofwhathadhappened。SirPatrickmetthisdifficultywithcharacteristicingenuityandreadinessofresource。

HewroteatelegramtoArnold，expressedinthefollowingterms：

“Yourletterandinclosuresreceived。ReturntoHamFarmassoonasyouconvenientlycan。KeepthethingstillasecretfromBlanche。Tellher，asthereasonforcomingback，thatthelosttraceofAnneSilvesterhasbeenrecovered，andthattheremaybereasonsforherreturningtoEnglandbeforeanythingfurthercanbedone。“

Duncanhavingbeendispatchedtothestationwiththismessage，Duncan’smasterproceededtocalculatethequestionoftime。

ArnoldwouldinallprobabilityreceivethetelegramatBaden，onthenextday，Septembertheseventeenth。InthreedaysmoreheandBlanchemightbeexpectedtoreachHamFarm。Duringtheintervalthuspla