The Mighty and Their Fall Read Online Free

was. And I saw it was cold. You are always so right, Ninian.”
    â€œYou can ring for tea, if you want it,” said Selina. “It is almost time.”
    The bell was answered by the young butler, who glancedat Selina, turned to the door, and transferred a tray from an unseen hand to the table in one smooth movement.
    â€œDid a spirit bring it?” said Hugo.
    â€œIt was Percival, sir,” said Ainger, in a tone that deprecated both the name and its bearer. “The new boy, if you have happened to notice. He is a pair of hands.”
    â€œThen is he a sort of spirit? That he is so nearly disembodied.”
    â€œYou should see him at table, sir. You would hardly apply the term.”
    â€œMust we call him
Percival
?” said Selina. “What about the name of the last boy?”
    â€œI made the suggestion, ma’am. And the rejoinder was that he was himself. A small point compared to others’ convenience!”
    â€œThe other name was James,” said Selina, considering it by itself.
    â€œThat is the case, ma’am. And it could well be the present one.”
    â€œWell, arrange it in that way. And if necessary, refer to me.”
    â€œI will exert my authority, ma’am,” said Ainger, as he left the room.
    â€œAinger does well in life,” said Hugo. “I wonder if he thinks the same of me. I can hardly bear the stamp of success.”
    â€œIt may be true of us all,” said Ninian. “The future does call for help. It is our time to move forward. We must remember the years ahead. There must be change in life. Indeed life itself is change.”
    â€œIt ends in death,” said Lavinia. “There is no need for haste. We go forward only too surely.”
    â€œYou talk in borrowed words,” said her father, smiling.
    â€œAnd you talk in riddles,” said Selina.
    â€œWell, the answer will come in its time.”
    â€œHave your father’s words a meaning?” said Hugoto Lavinia. “Is anything coming that will throw us on each other?”
    â€œI don’t think there is any fear.”
    â€œI thought there might be hope.”

CHAPTER II
    â€œSomething is on us,” said Ainger. “There is something in the air. Well, we shall soon find out.”
    â€œI am not one to ferret,” said the cook. “As I am not made on that line.”
    â€œWell, he who has ears to hear! I am not sorry to have them.”
    â€œYou need not continue, Ainger. I am not a party to it.”
    Ainger took his place by the kitchen fire, and Cook stood by him with a severe expression. She was a thin, sallow, middle-aged woman, with odd but definite features, undisguisedly toil-worn hands, and small, grey eyes that seemed to pierce any surface, and generally did so. Ainger was a tall man of twenty-eight, with a fresh, florid face, a broad, boyish nose, and blue eyes that penetrated nothing, which was perhaps why he used his ears. The bond between them did not come from their difference, but from their position above their fellows, which held them to a life apart.
    â€œWell, the truth will come out,” said Ainger, turning on his heels. “Not that much seems to come to me.”
    â€œSome things are withheld,” said Cook, looking unsympathetic towards this bearing. “We need not overestimate ourselves.”
    â€œWell, no one saves us the trouble,” said Ainger, correcting it as if unconsciously. “And we can make a guess. Perhaps Mr. Hugo is going to be married. Well, he is not too young.”
    â€œYou need not make comments. And that is not my conjecture.”
    â€œAnd you could not ever be wrong?”
    â€œIt might constitute an exception. But I take no credit.”
    â€œWell, any change is better than none.”
    â€œIt depends on the nature. You should weigh your words.”
    â€œThe master will be in for luncheon. Straws point the way of the wind. It may mean the revelation. I aim to