“Impossible. You must not move that knight: it exposes your king. Do you know, I think there is a great charm about this house.”
“Indeed? Yes, it is a pretty house.”
“And this sunset hour makes it additionally so; Besides, it is inexpressibly sad to see you here, a perfectly happy and perfectly beautiful mistress of this romantic foreign home.”
“What do you mean, Sholto?”
“I call it a foreign home because, though it is yours, I have no part nor lot in it. Remember, we are only playing at old times to-night. Everything around, from the organ to the ring on your finger, reminds me that I am a stranger here. It seems almost unkind of you to regret nothing whilst I am full of regrets.”
“Check,” said Marian. “Mind your game, sir.”
“Flippant!” exclaimed Douglas, impatiently moving his king. “I verily believe that if your husband were at the bottom of the Thames at this moment, you would fly off unconcernedly to some other nest, and break hearts with as much indifference as ever.”
“I wish you would not make suggestions of that sort, Sholto. You make me uncomfortable. Something might happen to Ned. I wish he were home. He is very late.”
“Happy man. You can be serious when you think about him. I envy him.”
“What! Sholto Douglas stoop to envy any mortal! Prodigious!”