And Piers went his way with shadowed countenance.

CHAPTER II

Straying about Kensington Gardens in the pleasant sunshine, his mind occupied with Daniel’s information, Piers Otway lost count of time, and at last had to hurry to keep his engagement.  As he entered the house in Queen’s Gate, a mirrored image of himself made him uneasy about his costume.  But for Daniel, such a point would never have troubled him.  It was with an unfamiliar sense of Irritation and misgiving that he moved into the drawing-room.

A man of sixty or so, well preserved, with a warm complexion, broad homely countenance and genial smile, stepped forward to receive him.  Mr. Jacks was member for the Penistone Division of the West Riding; new to Parliament, having entered with the triumphant Liberals in the January of this year 1886.  His friends believed, and it seemed credible, that he had sought election to please the lady whom, as a widower of twenty years’ endurance, he had wedded only a short time before; politics interested him but moderately, and the greater part of his life had been devoted to the manufacturing business which brought him wealth and local influence.  Not many people remembered that in the days of his youth John Jacks had been something of a Revolutionist, that he had supported the People’s Charter; that he had written, nay had published, verses of democratic tenor, earning thereby dark reputation in the respectable society of his native town.  The turning-point was his early marriage.  For a while he still wrote verses—­of another kind, but he ceased to talk about liberty, ceased to attend public meetings, and led an entirely private life until, years later, his name became reputably connected with municipal affairs.  Observing Mr. Jacks’ face, one saw the possibility of that early enthusiasm; he had fine eyes full of subdued tenderness, and something youthful, impulsive, in his expression when he uttered a thought.  Good-humoured, often merry, abounding in kindness and generosity, he passed for a man as happy as he was prosperous; yet those who talked intimately with him obtained now and then a glimpse of something not quite in harmony with these characteristics, a touch of what would be called fancifulness, of uncertain spirits.  Men of his world knew that he was not particularly shrewd in commerce; the great business to which his name was attached had been established by his father, and was kept flourishing mainly by the energy of his younger brother.  As an occasional lecturer before his townsfolk, he gave evidence of wide reading and literary aptitudes.  Of three children of his first marriage, two had died; his profound grief at their loss, and the inclination for domestic life which always appeared in the man, made it matter for surprise that he had waited so long before taking another wife.  It would not have occurred to most of those who knew him that his extreme devotion to women made him shy, diffident, all but timorous in their presence.  But Piers Otway, for all his mental disturbance at this moment, remarked the singular deference, the tone and look of admiring gentleness, with which Mr. Jacks turned to his wife as he presented their guest.