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‘And, Ella,’ added Flossie, ‘I’ve been out with Andrews after school several times, to Tottenham Court Road, and Wardour Street, and Oxford Street–oh, everywhere, hunting up old furniture, and I can show you where they have some beautiful things–not shams, but really good!’

‘You know, Ella,’ said Mrs. Hylton, observing that she did not answer, ‘I want you to have a pretty house, and you and George must order exactly what you like; but I think you will find I may be some help to you in choosing.’

‘Thank you, mother,’ said Ella, without any animation; ‘I–I don’t think we shall want much.’

‘You will want all that young people in your position do want, I suppose,’ said Mrs. Hylton, a little impatiently; ‘and of course you understand that the bills are to be my affair.’

‘Thank you, mother,’ murmured Ella again. She didn’t feel able to tell them just yet how this had all been forestalled; she felt that she would infallibly break down if she tried.

‘You seem a little overdone to-night, my dear,’ said her mother frigidly; she was naturally hurt at the very uneffusive way in which her good offices had been met.

‘I have such a dreadful headache,’ pleaded Ella. ‘I–I think I overtired myself this afternoon.’

‘Then you were very foolish, after travelling all yesterday, as you did. I don’t wonder that George was ashamed to come in. You had better go to bed early, and I will send Andrews in to you with some of my sleeping mixture.’

Ella was glad enough to obey, though the draught took some time to operate; she felt as if no happiness or peace of mind were possible for her till George had been persuaded to undo his work.

Surely he could not refuse when he knew that her mother was prepared to do everything for them at her own expense!

And here it began to dawn upon her what this would entail! George’s words came back to her as if she heard them actually spoken. Did he not say that the house had been furnished out of his savings?

What was she asking him to do? To dismantle it entirely; to humiliate himself by going round to all the people he had dealt with, asking them as a favour to take back their goods, or else he must sell them as best he could for a fraction of their cost. Who was to refund him all he had so uselessly spent? Could she ask her mother to do so? Would he even consent to such an arrangement if it was proposed?

Then his sisters–how could she avoid offending them irreparably, perhaps involving George in a quarrel with his family, if she were to carry her point?

As she realised, for the first time, the inevitable consequences of success, she asked herself in despair what she ought to do–where her plain duty lay?

Did she love George–or was it all delusion, and was he less to her than mere superfluities, the fringe of life?

She did love him, in spite of any passing disloyalty of thought. She felt his sterling worth and goodness, even his weaknesses had something lovable in them for her.

And he had been planning, spending, working all this time to give her pleasure, and this was his reward! She had been within an ace of letting him see the cruel ingratitude that was in her heart! ‘What a selfish wretch I have been!’ she thought; ‘but I won’t be–no, I won’t! George shall not be snubbed, hurt, estranged from his family on my account!’

No, she would suffer–she alone–and in silence. Never by a word would she betray to him the pain his well-intentioned action cost her. Not even to her mother and Flossie would she permit herself to utter the least complaint, lest they should insist upon opening George’s eyes!

So, having arrived at this heroic resolve, in which she found a touch of the sublime that almost consoled her, the tears dried on her cheeks and Ella fell asleep at last.