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Footsteps came along the upper hall and began to descend the stairs. Presently Davenant could be heard saying: "Then I shall tell Harrington that they may as well foreclose at one time as another." "Just as well." Guion's reply came from the direction of his bedroom door. "I see nothing to be gained by waiting. The sooner it's over the sooner to sleep, what?"
Her part would be accomplished when once she had handed over the dot either to Olivia or to her trustees. As the passing of this sum through Miss Guion's hands was to be no more than a formality, the question of trustees was not worth taking up.
"Miss Guion's marriage to Colonel Ashley will not take place on October 28th." "Miss Guion's marriage to Colonel Ashley will not take place on October 28th." "Miss Guion's marriage to Colonel Ashley will not take place on October 28th." The words, which to Olivia had at first sounded something like a knell, presently became, from the monotony of repetition, nothing but a sing-song.
To this Ashley lent himself with entire good-will, taking Guion's timid claim for recognition as part of the new heaven and the new earth under process of construction. In this greatly improved universe Olivia, too, acquired in her lover's eyes a charm, a dignity, a softened grace beyond anything he had dreamed of.
It had been the late Mrs. Guion's room, and expressed her taste. It contained too many ornaments, too many knickknacks, too many mirrors, too many wardrobes, too many easy-chairs, too much embossed silver on the dressing-table, too much old porcelain, wherever there was a place for it. Everything was costly, from the lace coverlet on the bed to the Persian rugs on the floor.
She spared no detail of her own opposition and eventual capitulation. She spoke simply and easily, as though repeating something learned by heart, just as she had narrated the story of Guion's defaulting in the morning.
Similar reasoning had attended their various residences abroad in London, Paris, Rome. Country-houses in England or villas on the Riviera became matters of necessity, according to the demands of Olivia's entry into the world of fashion or Mrs. Guion's health.
The situation calling then for adroitness on Guion's part, the fact that he was able to meet it to the satisfaction of all the parties concerned, increased his confidence in his own astuteness.
"All the same, I wish you could have managed the thing without giving offence to Aunt Vic." The words were Henry Guion's first since sitting down to table. "I couldn't help it, papa. I didn't give Aunt Vic offence; she took it." "She's always been so fond of you " "I'm fond of her. She's an old darling.
Better any imputation of craft than the suspicion of wanting to confer benefits on his fellow-men. It was a satisfaction to him to be able to say, even in his own inner consciousness, that the desperate state of Guion's affairs forced his hand and compelled him to a quixotic course which he would not otherwise have taken. The first glimpse of Ashley brought this verbal shelter to the dust.
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