A charming wife, a
home and children; these were not enough, and Franklin knew it, to have
brought him here to-day on his strange errand; nor was it an act of
chivalry; nor was it pity and sympathy for his friend. All these, no
doubt, made some small part of it; but they far from covered the case;
they would have left him as calm and as rational as, he knew, he looked;
but since he did not feel calm and rational he knew that the case was
covered by very different motives. What they were he could not clearly
see; but he felt that something was happening to him and that it was
taking him far out of his normal course. Even his love for Althea had
not taken him out of his course; it had never been incalculable; it had
been the ground he walked on, the goal he worked towards; what was
happening now was like a current, swift and unfathomable, that was
bearing him he knew not where.
Helen smiled at him and, turning in her chair to look up at him, gave
him her hand. 'You look tired,' she said. 'You'll have some tea?'
'I've been looking up some things at the British Museum,' said Franklin,
'and I had a glass of milk and a bun; the bun was very satisfying,
though I can't say that it was very satisfactory; I guess I shan't want
anything else for some hours yet.
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