All this clearly indicated that Gundred’s interference was urgently
needed in the cause of holiness. Day by day she watched the situation,
feeling more and more certain that her mission was the rescue of
her husband. He, meanwhile, bore hourly, with increasing pain, the
tantalizing torments of his paradoxical proximity to the thing he had
so long looked for and now had found in vain. Ivor Restormel wondered
at his good fortune, and only occasionally noticed the crochets of
Kingston and Gundred. Of the two, Gundred had by far the more tactful
temperament. Her dislike, now fast verging towards religious horror,
was not to be discerned except by an eye far more keen than Ivor
Restormel’s. A serene gravity, a cool calm were so much the dominant
characteristics of her nature that the exaggeration of her gravity,
the additional chill in her calm passed unnoticed by one so little
practised in observation. The restless eagerness of Kingston was more
plain and more distressing. Ivor Restormel sometimes wondered what
it was that he did or failed to do that so roused disappointment and
annoyance in this friend who never really seemed a friend, and yet had
gratuitously done so much for him. However, he was not of a temper to
let such matters oppress him. He put them behind him, and disregarded
any tension that he might ever be inclined to discern in his relations
with his employer or his employer’s wife.
So the days passed unsatisfactorily by, until the time came for the
family’s removal to Ivescar. Deep in his heart Kingston had a dim hope
that the sight of Ivescar might once more rekindle a flash of memory
in the boy. It was with trembling anxiety that he watched the first
impressions that Ivor received from his first sight of the Yorkshire
moors. Would the veil lift again, for even the briefest glance from the
soul that dwelt behind? Brakelond had roused the sleeping personality
in the boy; surely it was only to be expected that Ivescar, where so
much had happened, could do no less? And Ivor gratified Kingston’s
hope up to a certain point--only, as before, in doing so to rouse a
keener desire. For from the first sight he instinctively loved the
mountain-country, entered into its charm, appreciated the solemn
majesty of it. He felt, he said, as if he had known it all his life,
as if he and the hills were friends of long standing. And Kingston,
hearing this, listened with quiet face but with a heart agonized in
suspense. The door seemed to be drawing ajar for a greater revelation.
The very next moment might bring some recognition. Kingston would not
admit to himself the hopelessness of his hope. Eagerly he waited for
what the boy might say next. And the door opened no further, but closed
again as fast as ever. Never again could that hidden consciousness
of Ivor’s wake to know itself. The expectation that it ever would
was groundless, tormenting, delusive as all the pleasures held out
by false desire. Kingston suffered more than ever, as each fresh
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