"You cannot judge how I look to-night," she said. "I am sorry Elsie is gone."
"When did she go away, Elizabeth?"
"Only yesterday; she seemed to be getting low spirited, so I advised her to visit Mrs. Harrington for a while."
"I suppose she has not left you often—you two kept together?" he asked, the old jealousy creeping through his voice.
"Of course; she has visited a little," replied his wife, quietly, but she turned away to the table as she spoke.
A servant brought in the supper, and they sat down opposite to each other at the board; but even during those first hours of reunion the strange greeting which his return had met would linger in Grantley Mellen's suspicious mind, and, in spite of Elizabeth's cheerful manner, her color would come and go with tremulous fitfulness. Sometimes there was a restless expression in her eyes, and she seemed with difficulty to repress a nervous start at any sudden sound—she had not recovered wholly, it appeared, from her surprise.
"You will send for Elsie in the morning," he said.
"Oh, yes. One of the men will go to town early."
"Don't tell her I have come."
Elizabeth hesitated.