Whatever his
father's feelings, he was both glad to have her under his roof, and
firmly set in the belief that he was acting on her behalf. His motive
for seeing her now (so he told himself) was a sense of responsibility
for her comfort and well-being.
The affection which he felt for her at their first meeting had not
changed, his thoughts continued, except that the lust had gone out of
it. And in a sense, even this was a relief. His greatest need now was
for friendship and a sense of family, both of which might only have
been lost and obscured, had they become conventional lovers.
He had drunk more than his share of the wine served at dinner, seeming
unconcerned by his father's tension, and the measured severity of Earl
Arthur. And now, as he walked the long corridors he fell to
reminiscing, to gentle, water-color thoughts of their long ride
together across the countryside. And he remembered their first kiss,
so innocent, so full of feeling. To see her now, and to know that it
was in his power to bring her back to pride and prosperity, aroused in
him a feeling of warmth and tenderness which he had not experienced
since childhood.
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