'And if one has no encouragement, I suppose one gets over it?'
'I have a presentiment that everything will be all right today,' said
Hyacinth. 'Is that a bad sign?'
'There are no good signs, in your present state,' answered Anne.
It was about half-past four, and Hyacinth in the blue dress, was sitting in the studio, where she could see both the window and the clock. Anne, by the fire, was watching her.
'You seem very fairly calm, Hyacinth.'
'I am calm,' she said. 'I am; quite calm. Except that my heart is beating so fast that I can hardly breathe, that I have horrible kinds of shivers and a peculiar feeling in my throat, I'm quite all right. Now, just fancy if I had to pretend I wasn't in suspense! If I had no-one to confide in!… Do you think he's mistaken the day? Do you think he thinks it's Thursday instead of Tuesday?'
'That's not likely.'
'I'm glad I feel so cool and calm. How ashamed I should be if he ever knew that I was so agitated!'
'Who knows, perhaps he's feeling as uncomfortable as you are?'
'Oh, no, no! There's no hope of that…. Will he telephone and put it off, do you think, at the last minute?'