Making no comment
upon his changed habits and altered tastes, giving no sign of her
own purposes, she began the second year of his home-coming to
accept invitations for herself and formally reentered her social
world; reassumed her own leadership there; demanded him as her
escort; often filled the house with young guests; made it for his
generation what the home of her girlhood had been to her--in all
sacrificing for him the gravity and love of seclusion which had
settled over her during the solemn years, years which she knew to
be parts of a still more solemn future.
She succeeded. She saw him again more nearly what he had been
before the college days--more nearly developing that type of life
which belonged to him and to his position.
Finally she saw him in love as she wished; and at this point she
gradually withdrew from society again, feeling that he needed her
no more.
VI
The noise of wheels on the gravel driveway of the lawn brought the
reflections of Mrs. Meredith to an abrupt close. The sound was
extremely unpleasant to her; she did not feel in a mood to
entertain callers this morning. Rising with regret, she looked
out. The brougham of Mrs. Conyers, flashing in the sun, was being
driven toward the house--was being driven rapidly, as though speed
meant an urgency.
If Mrs. Meredith desired no visitor at all, she particularly
disliked the appearance of this one. Rowan's words to her were
full of meaning that she did not understand; but they rendered it
clear at least that his love affair had been interrupted, if not
been ended.
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