Beyond the Rocks

Then she sat down and wrote to her son--she was not even going to the

opera that night. And if she had looked up in the tall mirror opposite,

she would have seen a beautiful, stately lady with a puckered, plaintive

frown on her face.

If a woman absolutely worships a man, even if she is only his mother,

she is bound to spend many moments of unhappiness, and Lady Bracondale

was no exception to the general rule. Hector had always gone his own

way, and there were several aspects of his life she disapproved of.

These visits to Paris--his antipathy to matrimony--his boredom with

girls--such nice girls she knew, too, and had often thrown him

with!--his delight in big-game shooting in alarming and impossible

countries--and, above all, his absolute indifference to Morella

Winmarleigh, the only woman who really and truly in her heart of hearts

Lady Bracondale thought worthy of him, although she would have accepted

several other girls as choosing the lesser evil to bachelorhood. But

Morella Winmarleigh was perfection! She owned the enormous property

adjoining Bracondale; she was twenty-six years old, of unblemished

reputation, nice looking, and not--not one of those modern women who are

bound to cause anxieties. Under any circumstances one could count upon

Morella Winmarleigh behaving with absolute propriety. A girl born to be

a mother-in-law's joy.

But Hector persistently remained at large. It was not that he openly

defied his mother--he simply made love to her whenever they were

together, twisted her round his finger, and was off again.

"To see mother with Hector," Lady Annigford said, "is a wonderful sight.

Although I adore him myself, I am not at the stage she is! She sits

there beaming on him exactly like an exceedingly proud and fond cat with

new kittens. He treats her as if she were a young and beautiful woman,

caresses her, pets her, pays not the least attention to anything she

says, and does absolutely what he pleases!"

Hector and Lady Bracondale together had often made the women who were in

love with him jealous.

When she had finished her letter the stately lady read it over

carefully--she had a certain tact, and Hector must be cajoled to return,

not irritated. Monica's epistle, in spite of that touch of vulgarity

which she had deplored, had held out some grains of comfort. She had

been getting really anxious over this affair with the--French person.

Even to herself Lady Bracondale would not use any of the terms which

usually designate ladies of the type of Esclarmonde de Chartres.

Since her brother-in-law Evermond had returned from Monte Carlo bringing

that disturbing story of the diamond chain, she had been on thorns--of

such a light mind and always so full of worldly gossip, Evermond!