III
I remember well the first time—it was at the end of about ten days of this—that Mrs. Pallant remarked to me: 'My dear friend, you are quite amazing! You behave for all the world as if you were perfectly ready to accept certain consequences.' She nodded in the direction of our young companions, but I nevertheless put her at the pains of saying what consequences she meant. 'What consequences?' she repeated. 'Why, the consequences that ensued when you and I first became acquainted.'
I hesitated a moment and then, looking her in the eyes, I said, 'Do you mean that she would throw him over?'
'You are not kind, you are not generous,' she replied, colouring quickly. 'I am giving you a warning.'
'You mean that my boy may fall in love with her?'
'Certainly. It looks even as if the harm might be already done.'
'Then your warning is too late,' I said, smiling. 'But why do you call it a harm?'
'Haven't you any sense of responsibility?' she asked. 'Is that what his mother sent him out to
