“You have been conspiring with Ben. You, my wife, have entered into a cursed league with my—servant?”
“I obeyed the letter of your injunction, Geoffrey. I tried to make your—your ‘servant’ see himself as I see him. And I see him more and more clearly as the one man I know who has subordinated his interests, his ambitions, his advancement, to ours. I see him exalted far above us—this friend of many years.”
Sir Geoffrey remained speechless for some moments. His voice broke as he answered her:
“I cannot trust myself to reply to you, Mary. But I say this—you have made a fool of me.” He turned sharply to Fishpingle. “This means that you are not prepared to offer me an apology?”
The Squire addressed his wife, peremptorily:
Lady Pomfret stood up. The two men gazed at her, each profoundly moved in different ways. To each she revealed herself as mistress of the situation. Never had her quality shone out so unmistakably. Her serenity came back, and with it an indescribable emanation of power—that undeniable authority founded not upon tradition and pride of place, but radiating dazzingly from a pure and sincere heart. To Fishpingle she seemed transfigured; to Sir Geoffrey, for the moment, she had ceased to be his wife. She moved slowly to Fishpingle:
Sir Geoffrey opened the door. His courtesy didn’t fail him.
Lady Pomfret paused before she passed through. Her voice was clear and sweet:
“And may God bless all you do, my dear husband.”
He went back to the open window, hoping, possibly, to inhale inspiration from Nether-Applewhite air. Really, he was gasping for air, like a boxer after a stiff bout. And yet, flustered as he was, he remained the slave of habit. Always he had pigeon-holed affairs of importance, dealing drastically with little things, purging his mind of them first, so that he could approach the big thing with a clear brain. Sound policy! At this crisis, when, as he put it, the foundations of life seemed to be crumbling, when _his_ wife and _his_ son arraigned _his_ authority, he returned, like an old hound, to the original line, bent upon pulling down his quarry. His wife had failed him! The greater reason that he should not fail. In his own words, “Ben must be downed.” To achieve this with dignity and courtesy engrossed his energies and attention.