At first he was almost angry with Virginia. She might buck up and help him to carry off these infernally awkward moments. Her listless silence was the worst demeanour she could possibly assume. As the miles passed, he became aware that she was feeling physically ill, and remorse made him frantic. Oh, damn the whole thing! He had done what he was ashamed of, blundered unpardonably; and, as far as he could see, he would gain nothing by it.... One idea gave him some consolation. If Virginia were really ill--if the doctor could be persuaded to keep her in bed for some days--then Ferris would go back to Derbyshire with his tale; and it was dimly possible that Virginia might never return thither at all. CHAPTER XXIII TEMPTATION "_I would not if I might Rebuild my house of lies, wherein I joyed One time to dwell: my soul shall walk in white Cast down, but not destroyed._"--Christina Rossetti. It may seem a curious thing that Mrs. Mynors, dependent upon the bounty of Osbert Gaunt, should be so ready to consent to a plan which, if successful, might once more cast her penniless upon the world. She herself was at a loss to understand the true meaning of the malice which actuated her. In all her life she had hitherto never known the strength of any passion. She was incapable of deep love, of real suffering. Her maternal instinct was not strongly developed, and selfishness had, up to now, preserved her from anything more disturbing than temper or discomfort. The first emotion of compelling force which had ever gripped her was the desire for revenge, which took its rise upon the day she went to meet her old lover at the club, carefully adorned for conquest, and received from him so unexpected a slap in the face. So unused was she to be dominated by any overmastering emotion that she was being run away with; and now and then by fits and starts she saw with dismay that this was so. She reassured herself however. Like most women who have always been attractive to the male, she overrated her own powers. She believed that Gerald Rosenberg was her slave. As a son-in-law he would be quite ideal, and unable to refuse her anything. She could not deny Gaunt's generosity; but he, although spending large sums when he believed it necessary, was severe upon luxury; he hated the wasting of pence; whereas Gerald was always giving presents of the kind she welcomed and understood--cut flowers, places at the theatre, pretty trifles--to her, to Tony, to Pansy, even to Virginia. She was convinced that her influence was paramount with Gerald, and, if with him, then with his father also.