Lady Caroline liked her son better for his unreasonableness, and felt proud of herself, in being the mother of such a rajah. Wherever the idolatrous instinct exists, there must be a love of the unreasonable. Who could worship a being capable of being argued with, persuaded, coaxed, or bullied? It is the utter passiveness of Juggernaut that attracts his devotees. No matter how ugly he may be, he sits there serene among his gilded carved work, while the crashing wheels of his car grind on their course regardless of the blood and groans of mangled victims--force unpitying and inflexible. It was some weeks before Major Steele would come to Inchbracken, not, indeed, till the last shred of autumn had been withered up by foot or swept away by wintry storms. He lingered on by the sea shore, wandering for hours by the hungry waves which swallowed up his love, accompanied by his old mother, in whose unspoken sympathy alone he seemed to find comfort. He seldom spoke to her, but he shunned every one else. When, however, winter became established, her health compelled them to return to town. There the closer contact with his fellows inseparable from city life became intolerable, and he was glad to avail himself of Kenneth's invitation, reminding him at the same time of the freedom and privacy he had promised. Lady Caroline agreed that they should see as few visitors as possible during the poor man's stay; 'but, indeed,' she added, 'we have all grown so unsociable since we became engaged, that the excluded will have nothing to regret.' 'Indeed I am not engaged, dear Lady Caroline!' remonstrated Julia in a subdued voice. 'And indeed, mother, I am not unsociable,' added Kenneth, who was going on to 'define his position,' as precisely as an American senator does, but his voice was drowned in the uproarious guffaw with which his uncle greeted his opening words. 'Poor man!' moralized Julia, 'the quiet of the country will soothe him. His was indeed a fearful calamity.' 'Ah yes!' sighed Lady Caroline, 'and I declare I like him the better for being inconsolable! They are not all so tender-hearted and faithful, Julia, by any means. Now, my General! Do you think _I_ can count on leaving so much desolation behind me? The idea would almost console one for having to go.' 'You forget, my dearest lady,' said the General finishing his egg (it was at breakfast), Major Steele had been less than two years married. Providence has been far kinder to us than that, and I doubt not, when the time of our separation shall arrive at last, that you will wear your weeds admirably, and continue to justify the opinion I have always held of you as the best dressed woman of my acquaintance.'