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It happened to suit some other arrangements of hers to spend Whitsuntide at Beechleigh, so she consented to chaperon Morella Winmarleigh without asking for a list of the guests. Hector had never conformed to any special set; he went here, there, and everywhere, and was welcomed by all.
He admired her perfect taste in dress she was all in pure white, muslin and laces, and he knew it was of the best, and the creation of the greatest artist. She looked just what his wife ought to look, infinitely refined and slender and stately and fair. Morella Winmarleigh would seem as a large dun cow beside her.
Sir Patrick Fitzgerald he knew at the Turf, and now that he thought of it he knew Lady Ada by sight quite well, and he was aware he would be a welcome guest at any house. If Theodora was going, he expected the thing could be managed. Meanwhile, he must find her, and get rid of Morella Winmarleigh. He hurried her on through the blue salon and the yellow salon and out into the gallery beyond.
These visits to Paris his antipathy to matrimony his boredom with girls such nice girls she knew, too, and had often thrown him with! his delight in big-game shooting in alarming and impossible countries and, above all, his absolute indifference to Morella Winmarleigh, the only woman who really and truly in her heart of hearts Lady Bracondale thought worthy of him, although she would have accepted several other girls as choosing the lesser evil to bachelorhood.
Theodora asked no more questions. She kept her eyes fixed on the stage, but she knew Hector had raised his glasses now and was scanning the box, and had probably seen her. What ought it to matter to her that he should be going to marry Miss Winmarleigh? He could be nothing to her only only but perhaps it was not true. This woman, Mrs.
Miss Winmarleigh replied suitably, and her stolid face betrayed none of her emotion. "Mother," said Hector, "I wish you would introduce me to Lady Ada Fitzgerald when you get the chance. I see her over there." This was so obvious that Morella, who never saw between the lines, preened with pleasure.
Both women saw Hector in the omnibus box, and saw him leave it, and were quite ready with their greetings when he joined them. Miss Winmarleigh had a slight air of proprietorship about her, which every one knew when Hector was there. And most people thought as she did, that he would certainly marry her in the near future.
He had only wired at the last moment to his mother, too late to change her plans; she was unfortunately engaged to take Morella Winmarleigh to the opera, and was dining early at that lady's house, so she could only see him for a few moments in her dressing-room before she started. "My darling, darling boy!" she exclaimed, as he opened the door and peeped in.
It was with extra displeasure Miss Winmarleigh had learned of Theodora's relationship to Sir Patrick, and that after all she could not be called a common colonial. There was no question about the Fitzgerald and Borringdon families, unfortunately, while Morella's grandfather had been merely a coal merchant. "I don't think she is so wonderfully pretty, do you, Mildred?" she said.
Yes, I suppose by some she would be considered pretty," Lady Bracondale continued, when the lorgnette was fixed to her focus. "What do you think, dear?" "Pretty!" exclaimed Miss Winmarleigh. "Oh no! Much too white, and, oh er foreign-looking. We must find out who she is." The matter was not difficult.
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