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That she was free, and that Lord Wyverton felt no bitterness over his disappointment, he himself assured her. He uttered no word of reproach. He did not so much as hint that she had given him cause for complaint. He was absolutely composed, even friendly.
In that instant she saw that which so disturbed her equanimity that she nearly dropped saucepan and contents upon the kitchen floor. Earl Wyverton was standing with his back against the door, watching her with eyes that shone quizzically under the meeting brows. He came forward instantly, and actually took the saucepan out of her hands. "Let me," he said.
I don't want to be a countess, but I do want to help my people. That in itself would make me happy." "Thank you for telling me the truth," Wyverton said, gravely. "I believe I have suspected some of it from the first. And now listen. I asked your sister to marry me because I wanted her. But I will spoil no woman's life. I will take nothing that does not belong to me. I shall set her free."
After a slight pause in the conversation Lady Caryl turned from parish affairs with an abruptness somewhat characteristic of her, but by no means impetuous. "Did you ever chance to meet Earl Wyverton, my dear Mary?" she inquired. "He spent a few days here in the summer." "Yes," said Molly. "He came to see us several times."
At nine o'clock on the following morning Lord Wyverton, sitting at breakfast alone in the little coffee-room of the Red Lion, heard a voice he recognized speak his name in the passage outside. "Lord Wyverton," it said, "is he down?" Lord Wyverton rose and went to the door. He met the landlady just entering with a basket of eggs in her hand. She dropped him a curtsy.
"Yes; I am actually in earnest. I want you." She stiffened at the words and grew paler still; but she said nothing. It was Wyverton who broke the silence. There was something about her that made him uneasy. "You can send me away at once," he said, "if you don't want me. You needn't mind my feelings, you know." "Send you away!" she said.
"It's the laziest sound on earth," said Wyverton. Molly turned off the road to a stile. "You ought to take a holiday," she said, as she mounted it. He vaulted the railing beside it and gave her his hand. "I'm not altogether a drone, Miss Neville," he said. Molly seated herself on the top bar and surveyed him. "Of course not," she said. "You are here on business, aren't you?"
There must be a way of escape somewhere. Of that she was convinced. There always was a way of escape. But for the time at least it baffled her. Her own acquaintance with Wyverton was very slight. She wished ardently that she knew what manner of man he was at heart. Upon one point at least she was firmly determined.
But as the two girls clasped one another on that last night of companionship Phyllis presently spoke his name. "I actually haven't told you what Lord Wyverton did, Moll," she said. "You would never guess. It was so unexpected, so overwhelming. You know he came to tea. You were busy and didn't see him. Jim was there, too. He came straight up to me and said the kindest things to us both.
"Partly," said Molly. She put up an impatient hand and removed her hat. Her hair shone gloriously in the sunlight that fell chequered through the overarching trees. "I want to talk to you seriously, Lord Wyverton," she said. "I am quite serious," he assured her. There followed a brief silence. Molly's eyes travelled beyond him and rested upon the plodding horses in the hay-field.
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