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.




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