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From the shut-off regions behind the green baize door came, now and then, the murmur of voices; but for the most part Greenriver lay hushed in lamp-lit, flower-scented silence. Never had the big hall looked so attractive as now, in the mellow light of the wood fire on the capacious hearth.
At present, however, he could do nothing; and with a resolve to call at Greenriver at the first available opportunity he went back into his little bungalow, which seemed strangely lonely as the twilight fell over the river-banks.
They had reached the high gates in the wall, and when once they had entered and were rolling up the broad avenue Toni gazed eagerly in the direction he had indicated. Greenriver was a stately old place enough.
The next thing to do was to collect her soaked clothes, and in spite of Herrick's protests that Mrs. Swastika would see to their safe return she crammed them ruthlessly into the suit-case before going out to the waiting motor. As she shook hands with Herrick, after thanking him very prettily for his kindness, Toni ventured a shy invitation. "Will you come to see us at Greenriver, Mr. Herrick?
Miss Loder, naturally, filled the post; and once more she came to Greenriver, and took her place in the stately old library, where she and Owen passed strenuous hours daily. To Toni Miss Loder's presence was growing ever more and more distasteful.
"Oh, no, not exactly," Toni was always loyal, but to-day her loyalty had been severely tried. "But I can't help comparing the house with Greenriver, and I was longing all the time to get back to the garden and the big rooms." Owen did not smile at her naïve confession. "You like your home, Toni? Greenriver pleases you?" "I think it's the loveliest house in the world," Toni said fervently.
She saw the whole foolish, irrational, Quixotic scheme in its true light; and flesh and blood shrank from a surrender which had no faintest touch of love or even passion to dignify sordidness. No. She could leave her husband and in a sudden blinding flash of insight she knew she could not now go back to Greenriver; but she could not proceed farther on this shameful way.
She had long ago intended the owner of Greenriver for her son-in-law; and to find this little nobody, with her provincial ways and her foreign-looking eyes, acting as châtelaine of the beautiful old house in her daughter's place had an irritating effect.
I'd promised to take her to Switzerland for Christmas, and that pleased her; but she was never keen about going away." "I see. She was happy here. Well" his gaze wandered dreamily round the lamp-lit room, with its mullioned windows and well-filled shelves "I don't wonder at that. Anyone might be happy in such a home as this." "Yes, she always loved Greenriver."
Quite unconsciously she was becoming ever more attracted by his manner, his voice, his ways; and once or twice she found herself wondering, with a kind of sick envy, in what light he appeared to the woman who was his wife. Through it all, however, Miss Loder's paramount emotion was one of envy for the mistress of Greenriver.
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