Could she ever forget the anxiety of the first lecture--the difficulty she had had in making him finish it--his careless, unbusiness-like management of the whole affair?
But then had come the burst of praise and popularity; and Arthur was a new man.

No difficulty--or scarcely--in getting him to work since then! Applause, so new and intoxicating, had lured him on, as she had been wont to lure the black pony of her childhood with a handful of sugar.

Yes, her Arthur was a genius; she had always known it.

And something of a child too--lazy, wilful, and sensuous--that, too, she had known for some time.

And she loved him with all her heart.
"But I won't have him spoilt by those fine ladies!" she said to herself, with frowning clear-sightedness.