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Updated: May 13, 2025
I shall have the pleasure of watching you from a distance, and of sincerely wishing you happiness as well as success." The formal style of this letter, so different from Iris's ordinary effusions, made sufficient proof of the mood in which it was written. Dyce bit his lips over it. He had foreseen that Mrs. Woolstan would hear of his engagement, but had hoped it would not be just yet.
Presently, she caught Miss Tomalin's eye, and smiled; a minute or two after, she and her companion came forward to join the other pair, and all re-ascended to the drawing-rooms together. When he had restored his charge to her chaperon, Lashmar took the hint of discretion and retired into the throng. There amid, he encountered Iris Woolstan, her eyes wide in search.
On the whole, it might serve a useful purpose, reminding him to be on guard against certain weaknesses of his temperament, likely to be fostered by ease and liberty. "Lady Ogram is in town," he announced. "I lunch with her to-morrow." The news agitated Mrs. Woolstan. "Will she be alone?" "I suppose so except for her secretary, who of course is always with her."
Toplady's description; an idealist of a mild type, whose favourite talk was of "altruism," and who, whilst affecting close attention to what other people said, was always absorbed in his own thoughts. Before Lashmar had been many minutes in the drawing-room, there entered Mrs. Woolstan, and she soon found an occasion for brief exchange of words with him. "Why haven't you been to see me yet?"
"We'll have an afternoon presently. Ask Mrs. Toplady to introduce Mr. Roach he dines with us on the 27th." To make sure of the M. P., Lashmar invited him verbally, and received a dreamy acceptance so dreamy that he resolved to send a note, to remind Mr. Roach of the engagement. "So you are to be one of us, at Mr. Lashmar's dinner," said the hostess to Mrs. Woolstan.
In a garden on the edge of the cliff, he found half a dozen persons; an elderly man who looked like a retired tradesman, his wife, of suitable appearance, their son, their two daughters, and Iris Woolstan. Loud and mirthful talk was going on; his arrival interrupted it only for a moment. "So glad to see you!" was Mrs. Woolstan's friendly, but not cordial, greeting.
In the case of Iris Woolstan, observation would have no certain results, for she must needs meet him with embarrassment. But Miss Tomalin would be superhuman if she did not somehow betray a nervous conscience. Dyce strode into the house. His father and mother stood talking at the foot of the stairs, the vicar ready to go out. "I must leave you at once," he exclaimed, looking at his watch.
Lashmar disliked children; the sound of their voices was disagreeable to him. He wondered whether he would ever have children of his own, and heartily hoped not. Six o'clock seemed very long in coming. But at length he found himself at Sunrise Terrace again, and was admitted to an ordinary lodging-house parlour, where, with tea on the table, Mrs. Woolstan awaited him.
But occasionally he shirked the cold tub; and, in the same way, he found it difficult at times to tell the truth. In the morning he had a letter from Mrs. Woolstan. Opening it hurriedly, he was pleased, but not surprised, to discover a cheque folded in the note-paper.
With the first gleam of daylight, he flung himself out of his hot, uncomfortable bed, and hastened to be a clothed mortal once more. He felt better as soon as he had dressed himself and opened the window. The night with its terrible hauntings was a thing gone by. At breakfast he thought fixedly of Iris Woolstan. Perhaps Iris had not seen Mrs. Toplady yet.
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