Once within, her hoops distended in sudden release,
filling the waggonette. Sophia followed, agilely.
As, with due formalities, the equipage drove off, Mrs. Baines gave
another sigh, one of relief. The sisters had won. She could now
await the imminent next advent of Mr. Gerald Scales with
tranquillity.
II
Those singular words of Sophia's, 'But you let Constance do just
as she likes,' had disturbed Mrs. Baines more than was at first
apparent. They worried her like a late fly in autumn. For she had
said nothing to any one about Constance's case, Mrs. Maddack of
course excepted. She had instinctively felt that she could not
show the slightest leniency towards the romantic impulses of her
elder daughter without seeming unjust to the younger, and she had
acted accordingly. On the memorable morn of Mr. Povey's acute
jealousy, she had, temporarily at any rate, slaked the fire,
banked it down, and hidden it; and since then no word had passed
as to the state of Constance's heart. In the great peril to be
feared from Mr. Scales, Constance's heart had been put aside as a
thing that could wait; so one puts aside the mending of linen when
earthquake shocks are about.
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