As long as Roger was drawn to Cynthia, and sought her of his own accord, it had been a sore pain and bewilderment to Molly's heart; but it was a straightforward attraction, and one which Molly acknowledged, in her humility and great power of loving, to be the most natural thing in the world.She would look at Cynthia's beauty and grace, and feel as if no one could resist it.And when she witnessed all the small signs of honest devotion which Roger was at no pains to conceal, she thought, with a sigh, that surely no girl could help relinquishing her heart to such tender, strong keeping as Roger's character ensured.She would have been willing to cut off her right hand, if need were, to forward his attachment to Cynthia; and the self-sacrifice would have added a strange zest to a happy crisis.She was indignant at what she considered to be Mrs Gibson's obtuseness to so much goodness and worth; and when she called Roger 'a country lout', or any other depreciative epithet, Molly would pinch herself in order to keep silent.But after all those were peaceful days compared to the present, when she, seeing the wrong side of the tapestry, after the wont of those who dwell in the same house with a plotter, became aware that Mrs Gibson had totally changed her behaviour to Roger, from some cause unknown to Molly.But he was always exactly the same; 'steady as old Time,' as Mrs Gibson called him, with her usual originality; 'a rock of strength, under whose very shadow there is rest,' as Mrs Hamley had once spoken of him.So the cause of Mrs Gibson's altered manner lay not in him.Yet now he was sure of a welcome, let him come at any hour he would.He was playfully reproved for having taken Mrs Gibson's words too literally, and for never coming before lunch.But he said he considered her reasons for such words to be valid, and should respect them.And this was done out of his simplicity, and from no tinge of malice.Then in their family conversations at home, Mrs Gibson was constantly making projects for throwing Roger 'and Cynthia together, with so evident a betrayal of her wish to bring about an engagement, that Molly chafed at the net spread so evidently, and at Roger's blindness in coming so willingly to be entrapped.She forgot his previous willingness, his former evidences of manly fondness for the beautiful Cynthia; she only saw plots of which he was the victim, and Cynthia the conscious if passive bait.She felt as if she could not have acted as Cynthia did; no, not even to gain Roger's love.Cynthia heard and saw as much of the domestic background as she did, and yet she submitted to the rôle assigned to her! To be sure, this rôle would have been played by her unconsciously;the things prescribed were what she would naturally have done; but because they were prescribed - by implication only, it is true - Molly would have resisted; have gone out, for instance, when she was expected to stay at home; or have lingered in the garden when a long country walk was planned.
At last - for she could not help loving Cynthia, come what would - she determined to believe that Cynthia was entirely unaware of all; but it was with an effort that she brought herself to believe it.It may be all very pleasant 'to sport with Amaryllis in the shade, or with the tangles of Neæra's hair,' but young men at the outset of their independent life have many other cares in this prosaic England to occupy their time and their thoughts.Roger was Fellow of Trinity, to be sure;and from the outside it certainly appeared as if his position, as long as he chose to keep unmarried, was a very easy one.His was not a nature, however, to sink down into inglorious ease, even had his fellowship income been at his disposal.He looked forward to an active life; in what direction he had not yet determined.He knew what were his talents and his tastes;and did not wish the former to lie buried, nor the latter, which he regarded as gifts, fitting him for some peculiar work, to be disregarded or thwarted.
