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She's to be only a fortnight in America; and getting her to come directly here was rather a triumph." "Yes; I see it was," said Mrs. Lidcote. "You know, she's rather rather fussy; and Mary was a little doubtful if " "If she would, on account of Leila?" Mrs. Lidcote murmured. "Well, yes. In her official position. But luckily she's a friend of the Barkleys.
"You've come to take me down to tea? I'd forgotten how late it was," Mrs. Lidcote exclaimed. Miss Suffern, a plump peering little woman, with prim hair and a conciliatory smile, nervously adjusted the pendent bugles of her elaborate black dress. Miss Suffern was always in mourning, and always commemorating the demise of distant relatives by wearing the discarded wardrobe of their next of kin.
Lidcote had dropped down into a corner of the sofa where she had sat during their talk of the week before. "I was stupid," she began abruptly. "I ought to have gone to Ridgefield with Susy. I didn't see till afterward that I was expected to." "You were expected to?" "Yes. Oh, it wasn't Leila's fault. She suffered poor darling; she was distracted.
"No, Janet," said the lady mournfully; "I left Lidcote Hall while my heart was light and my name was honourable, and I will not return thither till my lord's public acknowledgement of our marriage restore me to my native home with all the rank and honour which he has bestowed on me. I will go to Kenilworth, girl.
Lidcote received the tea-cup which her cousin proffered, but showed no other disposition to obey her injunctions. For a moment she stirred her tea in silence; then she asked: "Is it your idea that I should stay quietly up here till Monday?" Miss Suffern set down her cup with a gesture so sudden that it endangered an adjacent plate of scones.
Yet so it is; this fellow of yours hath seduced the daughter of a good old Devonshire knight, Sir Hugh Robsart of Lidcote Hall, and she hath fled with him from her father's house like a castaway. My Lord of Leicester, are you ill, that you look so deadly pale?" "No, gracious madam," said Leicester; and it required every effort he could make to bring forth these few words.
Is it seven already?" "Not that it can make any difference, I suppose," Mrs. Lidcote continued. "But did Leila tell them I was coming?" Miss Suffern looked at her with pain. "Why, you don't suppose, dearest, that Leila would do anything " Mrs. Lidcote went on: "For, of course, it's of the first importance, as you say, that Mrs.
And of course what she says is law. Oh, they quite hope they'll get it. You see Horace's uncle is in the Cabinet, one of the assistant secretaries, and I believe he has a good deal of pull " "Horace's uncle? You mean Wilbour's, I suppose," Mrs. Lidcote interjected, with a gasp of which a fraction was given to Miss Suffern's flippant use of the language. "Wilbour's? No, I don't. I mean Horace's.
"Why shouldn't you, as Leila says, wait here till we can all pack up and go together?" Mrs. Lidcote smiled her gratitude with her refusal. "After all, it's not yet sure that you'll be packing up." "Oh, you ought to have seen Wilbour with Mrs. Boulger," Leila triumphed. "No, you ought to have seen Leila with her," Leila's husband exulted.
But I will say, and loudly, I would have been happier than I now am to have remained in Lidcote Hall, even although I must have married poor Tressilian, with his melancholy look and his head full of learning, which I cared not for. He said, if I would read his favourite volumes, there would come a time that I should be glad of having done so. I think it is come now."
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