THE FLOWER PARLOR
XV
LUCETTA FULFILS MY EXPECTATION OF HER
It was not till Mr. Trohm had driven away that I noticed, in the shadow of the trees on the opposite side of the road, a horse tied up, whose empty saddle bespoke a visitor within. At any other gate and on any other road this would not have struck me as worthy of notice, much less of comment. But here, and after all that I had heard during the morning, the circumstance was so unexpected I could not help showing my astonishment.
"A visitor?" I asked.
"Some one to see Lucetta."
William had no sooner said this than I saw he was in a state of high excitement. He had probably been in this condition when we drove up, but my attention being directed elsewhere I had not noticed it. Now, however, it was perfectly plain to me, and it did not seem quite the excitement of displeasure, though hardly that of joy.
"She doesn't expect you yet," he pursued, as I turned sharply toward the house, "and if you interrupt her—D—n it, if I thought you would interrupt her——"
I thought it time to teach him a lesson in manners.