"I want you to tell me what to do, and how I can help them."
"My dear child," said the Crow, sententiously, as was his habit, "help
them to what? She is married, of course, or Hector would not be in love
with her. Do you want to help them to part or to meet? or to go to
heaven or to hell? or to spend what Monica Ellerwood calls 'a Saturday
to Monday amid rural scenery,' which means both of those things one
after the other!"
"Crow, dear, you are disagreeable," said Lady Anningford, "and I have a
cold in my head and cannot compete with you in words to-day."
"Then say what you want, and I'll listen."
"Hector met them in Paris, it seems, and must have fallen wildly in
love, because I have never seen him as he is now."
"How is he?--and who is 'them'?"
"Why, she and the husband, of course, and Hector is looking sad and
distrait--and has really begun to feel at last."
"Serve him right!"
"Crow, you are insupportable! Can you not see I am serious and want your
help?"
"Fire away, then, my good child, and explain matters. You are too
vague!"
So she told him all she knew--which was little enough; but she was
eloquent upon Theodora's beauty.
"She has the face of an angel," she ended her description with.
"Always mistrust 'em," interjected the Crow.
"Such a figure and the nicest manner, and she is in love with Hector,
too, of course--because she could not possibly help herself--could
she?--if he is being lovely to her."
"I have not your prejudiced eyes for him--though Hector certainly is a
decent fellow enough to look at," allowed Colonel Lowerby. "But all
this does not get to what you want to do for them."
"I want them to be happy."
"Permanently, or for the moment?"
"Both."
"An impossible combination, with these abominably inconsiderate marriage
laws we suffer under in this country, my child."
"Then what ought I to do?"
"You can do nothing but accelerate or hinder matters for a little. If
Hector is really in love, and the woman, too, they are bound to dree
their weird, one way or the other, themselves. You will be doing the
greatest kindness if you can keep them apart, and avoid a scandal if
possible."