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‘Tell me what happened, will you?’ Clive spoke in a dry, deadened voice. He remained standing in front of her, but he looked away; he, too, was taking counsel with himself. ‘You have every right to see Robin, of course,’ he said. ‘That was one of the reasons why we came here;—so that you should see him.—That was one of the reasons Hester wanted to come.’

‘How much Hester wants me to see Robin was displayed the other night, wasn’t it? She takes away with one hand what she makes a parade of giving with the other.’

‘Mummy! Mummy!’ he glanced at her askance; but he pleaded with her; he would not face the truth. ‘Truly you misunderstood; I promise you did. I asked her about it—about the fairy-tales, you know, at once. I told her I did not agree with her. Of course she was miserable. She had not meant to hurt you. It’s only that she cares so about her ideas;—and she’s been worried about Robin.’

‘She may well be worried about him. He was happy with me this afternoon and when he saw her she frightened him.—It’s frightening to a little child to see his mother insult his grandmother.’

‘Mother, you are very unfair.’

She had walked away from him in the dusky