It certainly would be picking up the pieces--after a smash into utter fragments! But it is always pleasant to see people contemplating what they regard as perfection; and no very clear duty lies on a private individual to disturb their vision. I told Chat that the idea was no doubt worth thinking over, and so, in amity, we parted. That was Chat's idea. Octon was gone with his fascination--not unfelt by Chat. Now it would be perfection if Lord Fillingford would overlook! But with that goal in view Margaret Octon was a heavy handicap. Undoubtedly--so heavy, so fatal, that the goal could hardly be Jenny's. Chat, who had done so much to form Jenny, might have given a thought to that aspect of the matter. If one thing were certain, it was that Jenny, when she accepted her legacy from Octon and brought Margaret to Breysgate, thereby abandoned and renounced all thought of renewing her relations with Fillingford. I was glad to come to that conclusion, helped to getting at it clearly (as one often is) by the opposite point of view presented by another. I had never been an enthusiastic Fillingfordite; I had accepted rather than welcomed. And I could bear him better suing than overlooking. Having things overlooked did not suit my idea of Jenny--though I could enjoy seeing her riding buoyant over them. Jenny and Margaret came along the terrace toward us, arm in arm, their approach heralded by merry laughter. "We've been building castles in the air!" cried Jenny. "May you soon be living in them!" She shook her head at me in half-serious rebuke. "They were for Margaret!" Jenny might deny herself the sky; but she would have castles somewhere--founded solidly on earth. It was the earth she trusted now. You cannot fall off that. CHAPTER XIX A CASE OF CONSCIENCE "And now about the Institute!" said Jenny the next morning. Cartmell had obeyed her summons to come up to the Priory, and the three of us were together in my office there. She was not wasting time. Matters were to move quick. She had come home with her plans matured, ready for execution. The enemies might hesitate, losing themselves in debate. She would not hesitate, nor take part in the debate about herself. Acting and acting quickly, she would carry the position while they still discussed how--or even whether--it should be defended. "The Committee stands adjourned _sine die_," said Cartmell. "You'd convene a meeting?" Jenny would have none of convening the Committee. It would be awkward if some of the members did not come--and still more awkward if all of them attended! "I regard the Committee as having abdicated," she told us. "They chose to adjourn--let them stay adjourned. I shall go over their heads--straight to the Corporation. Let's see if the Corporation will refuse! If they do, we shall know where we are."