sionate though her nature, no doubt Mrs. Lowder,
on this occasion, neither threatened nor appealed.
Her arms of aggression, her weapons of defence,
were presumably close at hand, but she left them
untouched and unmentioned, and was in fact so
bland that he properly perceived only afterwards
how adroit she had been. He properly perceived
something else as well, which complicated his case;
he shouldn't have known what to call it if he hadn't
called it her really imprudent good-nature. Her
blandness, in other words, was not mere policy he
wasn't dangerous enough for policy; it was the re
sult, he could see, of her fairly liking him a little.
From the moment she did that she herself became
more interesting; and who knew what might hap
pen should he take to liking her? Well, it was a
risk he naturally must face. She fought him, at
any rate, but with one hand, with a few loose grains
of stray powder. He recognised at the end of ten
minutes, and even without her explaining it, that
if she had made him wait it had not been to wound
him; they had by that time almost directly met
on the fact of her intention. She had wanted him
to think for himself of what she proposed to say
to him not having otherwise announced it;
wanted to let it come home to him on the spot, as
she had shrewdly believed it would. Her first ques
tion, on appearing, had practically been as to
whether he hadn't taken her hint, and this inquiry
assumed so many things that it made discussion, im-

[[89]]

p088 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p089w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p090

v?