“Well I’m damned, if that fellow on the car wasn’t Lieutenant Wynyard! I was in his troop at Lucknow—a rare smart officer, too. What’s his little game?”
“You’d better go back and arsk ’im,” suggested the other, with a loud laugh.
“Not me,” and they were out of earshot.
Aurea felt dumbfounded, as she moved on and got into her place. Susan, of course, was lingering as usual, chattering and last-wording to acquaintances, and she was not sorry to have a few moments to herself, to sit and meditate on her surprising discovery. So Owen’s real name was Wynyard—and he had been an officer in a Hussar regiment. What was his game?
And her first impressions were justified; he was a gentleman, in spite of Joey’s authoritative verdict and Mrs. Ramsay’s gloomy forebodings. What dreadful thing had he done to be compelled to live under an assumed name, and bury himself, of all places, in Ottinge?
Aurea was now more deeply interested and puzzled than ever! She and Susan had no secrets from one another—for Susan was so young in her mind and heart that she seemed to be almost Aurea’s contemporary!
From the first they liked the chauffeur, and though they had not said much, each was conscious of the other’s opinion. Now that Aurea knew his name and former status for a fact, strange to relate, she resolved to have just this one little secret from Susan—and keep the knowledge to herself!
On the way home she proved an unusually silent and unsympathetic companion. Her conversation was jerky and constrained; she was not in the least interested in the scraps of local news that her aunt had collected in street and shops, but appeared to be lost in a maze of speculation and abstraction.
CHAPTER XV
BY WATER
Miss Parrett felt slightly embarrassed and uncomfortable when people remarked how seldom her motor was seen! “Was it not satisfactory?” they inquired. The old lady also recognised that her chauffeur was doing the work of a really capital gardener, and was Susan’s right hand; this annoyed her excessively. She disliked the idea that her employé was slaving to please her sister; and accordingly changed her tactics, gave instructions for the car to go out twice a week with Miss Susan and Miss Morven, or Miss Susan and Mrs. Ramsay.