Sanctuary | Page 9

at once she began to shrink from the consequences.
There was nothing she so dreaded for him as that any one should take a
light view of his act: should turn its irremediableness into an excuse.
And this, she foresaw, was what Mrs. Peyton would do. The first burst
of misery over, she would envelop the whole situation in a mist of
expediency. Brought to the bar of Kate's judgment, she at once revealed
herself incapable of higher action.
Kate's conception of her was still under arraignment when the actual
Mrs. Peyton fluttered in. It was the afternoon of the second day, as the
girl phrased it in the dismal re-creation of her universe. She had been
thinking so hard of Mrs. Peyton that the lady's silvery insubstantial
presence seemed hardly more than a projection of the thought; but as
Kate collected herself, and regained contact with the outer world, her
preoccupation yielded to surprise. It was unusual for Mrs. Peyton to
pay visits. For years she had remained enthroned in a semi-invalidism
which prohibited effort while it did not preclude diversion; and the girl
at once divined a special purpose in her coming.
Mrs. Peyton's traditions would not have permitted any direct method of
attack; and Kate had to sit through the usual prelude of ejaculation and

anecdote. Presently, however, the elder lady's voice gathered
significance, and laying her hand on Kate's she murmured: "I have
come to talk to you of this sad affair."
Kate began to tremble. Was it possible that Denis had after all spoken?
A rising hope checked her utterance, and she saw in a flash that it still
lay with him to regain his hold on her. But Mrs. Peyton went on
delicately: "It has been a great shock to my poor boy. To be brought in
contact with Arthur's past was in itself inexpressibly painful; but this
last dreadful business--that woman's wicked act--"
"Wicked?" Kate exclaimed.
Mrs. Peyton's gentle stare reproved her. "Surely religion teaches us that
suicide is a sin? And to murder her child! I ought not to speak to you of
such things, my dear. No one has ever mentioned anything so dreadful
in my presence: my dear husband used to screen me so carefully from
the painful side of life. Where there is so much that is beautiful to dwell
upon, we should try to ignore the existence of such horrors. But
nowadays everything is in the papers; and Denis told me he thought it
better that you should hear the news first from him."
Kate nodded without speaking.
"He felt how dreadful it was to have to tell you. But I tell him he takes
a morbid view of the case. Of course one is shocked at the woman's
crime--but, if one looks a little deeper, how can one help seeing that it
may have been designed as the means of rescuing that poor child from
a life of vice and misery? That is the view I want Denis to take: I want
him to see how all the difficulties of life disappear when one has
learned to look for a divine purpose in human sufferings."
Mrs. Peyton rested a moment on this period, as an experienced climber
pauses to be overtaken by a less agile companion; but presently she
became aware that Kate was still far below her, and perhaps needed a
stronger incentive to the ascent.
"My dear child," she said adroitly, "I said just now that I was sorry you

had been obliged to hear of this sad affair; but after all it is only you
who can avert its consequences."
Kate drew an eager breath. "Its consequences?" she faltered.
Mrs. Peyton's voice dropped solemnly. "Denis has told me everything,"
she said.
"Everything?"
"That you insist on putting off the marriage. Oh, my dear, I do implore
you to reconsider that!"
Kate sank back with the sense of having passed again into a region of
leaden shadow. "Is that all he told you?"
Mrs. Peyton gazed at her with arch raillery. "All? Isn't it everything--to
him?"
"Did he give you my reason, I mean?"
"He said you felt that, after this shocking tragedy, there ought, in
decency, to be a delay; and I quite understand the feeling. It does seem
too unfortunate that the woman should have chosen this particular time!
But you will find as you grow older that life is full of such sad
contrasts."
Kate felt herself slowly petrifying under the warm drip of Mrs. Peyton's
platitudes.
"It seems to me," the elder lady continued, "that there is only one point
from which we ought to consider the question--and that is, its effect on
Denis. But for that we ought to refuse to know anything about it. But it
has made my boy so