from Mrs. Elgar's care to that of Mrs. Lessingham, was I doing
right?"

"Mallard, you are a curious instance of the Puritan conscience
surviving in a man whose intellect is liberated. The note of your
character, including your artistic character, is this
conscientiousness. Without it, you would have had worldly success
long ago. Without it, you wouldn't talk nonsense of Cecily Doran.
Had you rather she were co. operating with Mrs. Baske in a scheme to
rebuild all the chapels in Lancashire?"

"There is a medium."

"Why, yes. A neither this nor that, an insipid refinement, a taste
for culture moderated by reverence for Mrs. Grundy."

"Perhaps you are right. It's only occasionally that I am troubled in
this way. But I heartily wish the three years remaining were over."

"And the 'definite good-bye' spoken. A good phrase, that of yours.
What possessed you to come here just now, if it disturbs you to be
kept in mind of these responsibilities?"

"I should find it hard to tell you. The very sense of
responsibility, I suppose. But, as I said, I am not going to stay in
Naples."

"You'll come and give us a 'definite good-bye' before you leave?"

Mallard said nothing, but turned and began to move on. They passed