of her life. The
result of her private talk with Cecily was that within a week all three
travelled down to London; there they remained for a fortnight, then went on to
Paris. Mrs. Lessingham's quarters were in Rue de Belle Chasse, and the Elgars
found a suitable dwelling in the same street.
    Their child was born, and for a few months all questions were postponed to
that of its health and Cecily's. The infant gave a good deal of trouble, was
anything but robust; the mother did not regain her strength speedily. The first
three months of the new year were spent at Bordighera; then came three months of
Paris; then the family returned to England (without Mrs. Lessingham), and
established themselves in the house in Belsize Park.
    The immediate effect of paternity upon Elgar was amusing. His
self-importance visibly increased. He spoke with more gravity; whatever step he
took was seriously considered; if he read a newspaper, it was with an air of
sober reflection.
    »This is the turning-point in his life,« Cecily said to her aunt. »He seems
to me several years older; don't you notice it? I am quite sure that as soon as
things are in order again he will begin to work.«
    And the prophecy seemed to find fulfilment. Not many days after their taking
possession of the English home, Reuben declared a project that his mind had been
forming. It was not, to be sure, thoroughly fashioned; its limits must
necessarily be indeterminate until fixed by long and serious study; but what he
had in view was to write a history of the English mind in its relation to
Puritanism.
    »I have a notion, Ciss, that this is the one thing into which I can throw
all my energies. The one need of my intellectual life is to deal a savage blow
at the influences which ruined all my early years. You can't look at the matter
quite as I do; you don't know the fierce hatred with which I am moved when I
look back. If I am to do literary work at all, it must be on some subject which
deeply concerns me - me myself, as an individual. I feel sure that my bent isn't
to fiction; I am not objective enough. But I enjoy the study of history, and I
have a good deal of acuteness. If I'm not mistaken, I can make a brilliant book,
a book that will excite hatred and make my name known.«
    They were sitting in