Tyson was much flattered by the rumor that Sir Peter Morley had
pronounced his wife to be "the loveliest woman in Leicestershire";
for Lady Morley herself was a sufficiently splendid type, with her
austere Puritan beauty. As for the rector, it was considered that his
admiration of Mrs. Nevill Tyson somewhat stultified his utterances in
the pulpit.
It is not always well for a woman when the judgment of the other sex
reverses that of her own. It was not well for Mrs. Nevill Tyson to be
told that she had fascinated Sir Peter Morley and spoiled the rector's
sermons; it was not well for her to be worshipped (collectively) by the
riff-raff that swarmed about Thorneytoft at Tyson's invitation; but any
of these things were better than for her to be left, as she frequently
was, to the unmixed society of Captain Stanistreet. He had a reputation.
Tyson thought nothing of going up to town for the week-end and leaving
Louis to entertain his wife in his absence. To do him justice, this
neglect was at first merely a device by which he heightened the luxury
of possession. In his own choice phrase, he "liked to give a mare a loose
rein when he knew her paces." It was all right. He knew Molly, and if he
did not, Stanistreet knew him. But these things were subtleties which
Drayton Parva did not understand, and naturally enough it began to avoid
the Tysons because of them.
Apparently Mrs. Nevill Tyson liked Stanistreet. She liked his humorous
dark face and his courteous manners; above all, she liked that air of
profound interest with which he listened to everything that she had to
say; it made it easy for her to chatter to him as she chattered to nobody
else, except (presumably) her husband. As for Stanistreet, try as he
would (and he tried a great deal), he could not make Mrs. Nevill Tyson
out. Day after day Mrs. Nevill Tyson, in amazing garments, sat and
prattled to him in the dog-cart, while Tyson followed the hounds; yet for
the life of him he could not tell whether she was really very infantile
or only very deep. You see she was Tyson's wife. It must be said she gave
him every opportunity for clearing his ideas on the subject, and if he
did not know, other people might be allowed to make mistakes. And when he
came to stay at Thorneytoft for weeks at a time, familiarity with the
little creature's moods only complicated the problem.
It was about the middle of February, and Stanistreet had been down
for a fortnight's hunting, when, in the morning of his last day, Tyson
announced his intention of going up to town with him to-morrow. He might
be away for three weeks or a month altogether; it depended upon whether
he enjoyed himself sufficiently.