But Swinny was in love--in love with Pinker. And to be in love with

Pinker was to live in a perfect delirium of hopes and fears. No sooner

was Swinny delivered over to the ministers of love, who dealt with her

after their will, than Baby too agonized and languished. His food ceased

to nourish him, his body wasted. They bought a cow for his sole use and

benefit, and guarded it like a sacred animal but to no purpose. He drank

of its milk and grew thinner than ever. Strange furrows began to appear

on his tiny face, with shadows and a transparent tinge like the blue of

skim-milk. As the pure air of Drayton did so little for him, Mrs. Nevill

Tyson wondered how he would bear the change to London.

"Shall I take him, Nevill?" she asked.

"Take him if you like," was the reply. "But you might as well poison the

little beast at home while you're about it."

So it was an understood thing that when Mr. and Mrs. Nevill Tyson settled

in town, Baby was to be left behind at Thorneytoft for the good of his

health. It was his father's proposal, and his mother agreed to it in

silence.

Her indifference roused the severest comments in the household. Mrs.

Nevill Tyson was an unnatural mother. From the day she weaned him, no one

had ever seen her caress the child. She handled him with a touch as light

and fleeting as his own; her lips seemed to shrink from contact with his

pure soft skin. There could be no doubt of it, Mrs. Nevill Tyson's

behavior was that of a guilty woman--guilty in will at any rate, if not

in deed.

A shuddering whisper went through the house; it became a murmur, and the

murmur became an articulate, unmistakable voice. The servants were

sitting in judgment on her. Swinny spoke from the height of a lofty

morality; Pinker, being a footman of the world, took a humorous, not to

say cynical view, which pained Swinny. Such a view could never have been

taken by one whose affections were deeply engaged.

The conclusions arrived at in the servants' hall soon received a

remarkable confirmation.

It was on a Monday. Mrs. Nevill Tyson was seen to come down to breakfast

in an unusually cheerful frame of mind. Tyson was away; he had been up in

town for three weeks, and was expected home that evening. She looked for

letters. There were two--one from the master of the house; one also from

Stanistreet, placed undermost by the discreet Pinker. The same thoughtful

observer of character noticed that his mistress blushed and put her

letters aside instead of reading them at once. At ten Swinny came into

the breakfast-room, bearing Baby. This was the custom of the house. By

courtesy the most unnatural mother may be credited with a wish to see her

child once a day.




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