distinguish the embarrassment from the joy
"Why, Miss Theale: fancy!" and "Why, Miss
Theale: what luck!"

Miss Theale had meanwhile the sense that for him
too, on Kate's part, something wonderful and un
spoken was determinant; and this although, distinct
ly, his companion had no more looked at him with a
hint than he had looked at her with a question. He
had looked and he was looking only at Milly herself,
ever so pleasantly and considerately she scarce
knew what to call it; but without prejudice to her
consciousness, all the same, that women got out of
predicaments better than men. The predicament of
course wasn't definite or phraseable and the way
they let all phrasing pass was presently to recur to
our young woman as a characteristic triumph of the
civilised state; but she took it for grafted, insist
ently, with a small private flare of passftm, because
the one thing she could think of to do for him was
to show him how she eased him off. She would
really, tired and nervous, have been much discon
certed, were it not that the opportunity in question
had saved her. It was what had saved her most,
what had made her, after the first few seconds,
almost as brave for Kate as Kate was for her, had
made her only ask herself what their friend would
like of her. That he was at the end of three min
utes, without the least complicated reference, so
smoothly " their " friend was just the effect of their
all being sublimely civilised. The flash in which he

[[321]]

p320 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p321w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p322

v?