A door was opened wide, and there stood Mrs. Ramsay in a tea-gown, with a little black Pom. in her arms. She looked amazed, as well she might, but instantly dissembled her surprise, and said—
“Good-evening—I see my husband has invited you in for a smoke?”
“Smoke!” said Captain Ramsay, passing into the drawing-room, and beckoning Wynyard to follow him. As he did so, he glanced apologetically at the lady of the house, and it struck him then that he was looking into a face that had seen all the sorrows of the world.
The room was furnished with solid old furniture, but Mrs. Ramsay’s taste—or was it Miss Morven’s—had made it a charming and restful retreat, with pretty, soft wall-paper, rose-shaded lamps, flowers, a quantity of books, and a few Indian relics—such as a brass table, a phoolcarrie or two, and some painted Tillah work which he recognised as made near Lucknow.
“Katie,” resumed her husband, after a pause, “I know you will be pleased to hear I’ve met a very old friend,” and he laid his hand heavily on Wynyard’s shoulder. “Let me introduce Captain Wynyard—Owen Wynyard of the Red Hussars. He and I were quartered together in Lucknow, a matter of thirty-three years ago—why, I knew him, my dear, long before I ever set eyes on you!”
As he concluded, he gazed at her with his dark shifty eyes, and Wynyard noticed the nervous twitching of his hands.
“I’m sure I’m delighted to make your acquaintance,” she said, with the utmost composure, though her lips were livid. Jim was getting worse—this scene marked a new phase of his illness—another milestone on the road to dementia.
“We were inseparable, Katie, I can tell you, and went up together for our leave to Naini Tal, and stayed at the club, rowed in the regatta, had a ripping time, and went shooting in Kumaon. I say, Owen, do you remember the panther that took your dog near Bhim Tal—and how you got him?”
Wynyard nodded assent—in for a penny, in for a pound! He was impersonating a dead man, and what was a dead dog more or less?
“Do you remember the cairn we raised over him, and he was so popular, every one who knew him, that passed up or down, placed a stone on it?”