really did not find it worth while to puzzle further as soon as the
plausible solution of his difficulties had presented itself. Should he hereafter
discover that something unforeseen perturbed the smooth flow of life to which he
looked forward, nothing could be easier than his remedy; the world is wide, and
a cosmopolitan does not attach undue importance to a marriage contracted in one
of its somewhat numerous parishes. In any case he would have found the temporary
harbour of refuge which stress of weather had made necessary. He surrendered
himself to the pleasant tickling of his vanity which was an immediate result of
the adventure. For, whatever Clem might be hiding, it seemed to him beyond doubt
that she was genuinely attracted by his personal qualities. Her demonstrations
were not extravagant, but in one noteworthy respect she seemed to give evidence
of a sensibility so little in keeping with her general character that it was
only to be explained as the result of a strong passion. In conversing with him
she at times displayed a singular timidity, a nervousness, a self-subdual
surprisingly unlike anything that could be expected from her. It was true that
at other moments her lover caught a gleam in her eyes, a movement of her lips,
expressive of anything rather than diffidence, and tending to confirm his view
of her as a cunning as well as fierce animal, but the look and tone of
subjugation came often enough to make their impression predominant. One would
have said that she suffered from jealous fears which for some reason she did not
venture to utter. Now and then he surprised her gazing at him as if in troubled
apprehension, the effect of which upon Mr. Snowdon was perhaps more flattering
than any other look.
    »What's up, Clem?« he inquired, on one of these occasions. »Are you
wondering whether I shall cut and leave you when we've had time to get tired of
each other?«
    Her face was transformed; she looked at him for an instant with fierce
suspicion, then laughed disagreeably.
    »We'll see about that,« was her answer, with a movement of the head and
shoulders strongly reminding one of a lithe beast about to spring.
    The necessary delay passed without accident. As the morning of the marriage
approached there was, however, a perceptible increase of nervous restlessness in
Clem. She had given up her work at Whitehead's, and contrived to keep her future
husband within sight nearly all day long. Joseph James found nothing
particularly irksome in this, for beer and tobacco were supplied him ad libitum,
and a succession of appetising meals made the underground