114 THE SILVER FOX 



fully. Mr. Glasgow had found that he was 

 obliged to catch the mail train for Dublin, 

 and he and the lady had started a quarter 

 of an hour before ; he had ordered the 

 ballast-engine to wait for Major Bunbury. 



Slaney recovered herself on the verge of 

 looking aghast. Major Bunbury kept his 

 eyes away from the neighbourhood of hers, 

 and with almost excessive carelessness made 

 inquiries as to the hour at which the mail 

 train was due at Letter Kyle. It appeared 

 that there remained forty- five minutes be- 

 fore it arrived there, and that the usual time 

 required by the ballast-engine for the dis- 

 tance was an hour and a quarter. Possi- 

 bilities spread and soaked coldly through 

 Slaney's mind, like suddenly spilt water. 

 Situations in novels that she had read lent 

 their smooth probability to the raw and dis- 

 jointed circumstance ; she found herself 

 wondering that it was all so horribly pain- 

 ful, so ugly, so devoid of subtle psychological 

 interest and large bearing ; not realizing 

 that in actual life feeling is born first, help- 



