Westlake; she replied that she had no desire to, and he
said nothing more. Stella did not write; she had ceased to do so
since receiving a certain lengthy letter from Adela, in which the
latter begged that their friendship might feed on silence for a
while. When the summer came there were pressing invitations from
Wanley, but Adela declined them. Alfred and his wife were going
again to South Wales; was it impossible for Adela to join them?
Letty wrote a letter full of affectionate pleading, but it was
useless.
In August, Mutimer proposed to take his wife for a week the Sussex
coast. He wanted a brief rest himself, and he saw that Adela was yet
more in need of change. She never complained of ill-health, but was
weak and pale. With no inducement to leave the house, it was much if
she had an hour's open-air exercise in the week; often the mere
exertion of rising and beginning the day was followed by a sick
languor which compelled her to lie all the afternoon on the couch.
She studied much, reading English and foreign books which required
mental exertion. They were rot works relating to the 'Social
Question'--far other. The volumes she used to study were a burden
and a loathing to her as often as her eyes fell upon them.
In her letters from Wanley there was never a word of what was going
on in the valley.
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