"Shall I see you next week--next Saturday?" he said, as
they returned to the town. She did not answer.
"Come to the Empire with me--you and Gertie," he
said.
"I should look well, going with a married man," she said.
"I'm no less of a man for being married, am I?" he said.
"Oh, it's a different matter altogether with a married man,"
she said, in a ready-made speech that showed her chagrin.
"How's that?" he asked.
But she would not enlighten him. Yet she promised, without
promising, to be at the meeting-place next Saturday evening.
So he left her. He did not know her name. He caught a train
and went home.
It was the last train, he was very late. He was not home till
midnight. But he was quite indifferent. He had no real relation
with his home, not this man which he now was. Anna was sitting
up for him. She saw the queer, absolved look on his face, a sort
of latent, almost sinister smile, as if he were absolved from
his "good" ties.
"Where have you been?" she asked, puzzled, interested.
"To the Empire."
"Who with?"
"By myself. I came home with Tom Cooper."
She looked at him, and wondered what he had been doing She
was indifferent as to whether he lied or not.
"You have come home very strange," she said. And there was an
appreciative inflexion in the speech.
He was not affected. As for his humble, good self, he was
absolved from it. He sat down and ate heartily. He was not
tired. He seemed to take no notice of her.
For Anna the moment was critical. She kept herself aloof, and
watched him. He talked to her, but with a little indifference,
since he was scarcely aware of her. So, then she did not affect
him. Here was a new turn of affairs! He was rather attractive,
nevertheless. She liked him better than the ordinary mute,
half-effaced, half-subdued man she usually knew him to be. So,
he was blossoming out into his real self! It piqued her. Very
good, let him blossom! She liked a new turn of affairs. He was a
strange man come home to her. Glancing at him, she saw she could
not reduce him to what he had been before. In an instant she
gave it up. Yet not without a pang of rage, which would insist
on their old, beloved love, their old, accustomed intimacy and
her old, established supremacy. She almost rose up to fight for
them. And looking at him, and remembering his father, she was
wary. This was the new turn of affairs!
Very good, if she could not influence him in the old way, she
would be level with him in the new. Her old defiant hostility
came up. Very good, she too was out on her own adventure. Her
voice, her manner changed, she was ready for the game. Something
was liberated in her. She liked him. She liked this strange man
come home to her. He was very welcome, indeed! She was very glad
to welcome a stranger. She had been bored by the old husband. To
his latent, cruel smile she replied with brilliant challenge. He
expected her to keep the moral fortress. Not she! It was much
too dull a part. She challenged him back with a sort of
radiance, very bright and free, opposite to him. He looked at
her, and his eyes glinted. She too was out in the field.