The parting between Haggard and his wife was necessarily what such partings usually are: it was painful to both; it would not be amusing to the reader.
Georgie's eyes were full of tears as her husband embraced her for the last time. He only tore himself from her reluctant arms as the final whistle sounded from the engine. As the train slowly moved from the platform, the girls walked hurriedly along for a few yards. Haggard leant from the window, waving his hand; his wife gazed after the vanishing train, standing like Niobe, dissolved in tears.
Even Haggard, case-hardened as he was, didn't light his cigar for full twenty minutes.
That evening Lucy Warrender obtained with some difficulty a copy of 'The Sphere;' this is what she read there:
"Seldom indeed now-a-days do Englishmen fight duels. In this they are wise, for with us the man who fights a duel receives no sympathy, and what is more unpleasant, generally becomes an object of ridicule. Sometimes, however, a duel is unavoidable. We understand that this was the case in the late unfortunate affair at Rome. The provocation was given by the man who fell. M. Barbiche was well known in London society. As usual, the cause of the quarrel was a lady. A correspondent in Rome, upon whose information we can rely, informs us that a blow was struck by Mr. R—— H——, but only after the grossest provocation. The meeting took place within twenty-four hours; unfortunately the result was fatal. The survivor and the seconds of both parties crossed the frontier at once, but one of the friends of the deceased took the precaution to draw up a procès verbal of the affair before he left, and transmitted it to the authorities. Society in Rome has been stirred to its foundations, for both the parties were well known. The weapons were sabres. We understand that the seconds of Mr. R—— H——, a well-known sporting nobleman and General C——, are, as well as their principal, members of the P——m Club. General C—— is now in England."
To Lucy Warrender, who now heard of the matter for the first time, these initials were no enigma. The cause of Haggard's mysterious detention in Rome, and of their own sudden flitting, became at once clear to her. "It was very thoughtful of Spunyarn," she said to herself; "he was quite right, Georgie certainly shouldn't see this."
The careful Lucy took every precaution. The consequences of the incident at Papayani's ball remained a secret to the young wife.
The ladies were glad of the temporary excitement of their move to the Villa Lambert, which they made the day after the departure of the two men. And now commenced a life of seclusion and retirement, which both of them enjoyed from its very novelty. The old quiet life that they had led at The Warren seemed to recommence once more. They gardened, they drove out, they rowed and sailed upon the lake, but they declined all acquaintances. The life was monotonous enough and devoid of incident.
Hephzibah Wallis had recovered her spirits, her Swiss lover was more attentive than ever; he escorted her on a Sunday evening to the Protestant place of worship, and though she didn't understand a word, Hephzibah enjoyed the service. In the mysterious rite of "walking out" going to church together forms an important factor; it is the outward and visible sign of "keeping company;" it is the inevitable step to being "asked in church," a kind of probationary period, a sort of trial trip. Mr. Capt was more loquacious than the British man-servant, under similar circumstances, would be. He was never tired of drawing out Miss Wallis on the subject of her young mistresses. The juvenile escapades of the younger of them were to him a source of endless amusement; he heard all that his inamorata had to tell, nay his interest was so great in her artless narratives that he would make her repeat them over and over again. The Swiss soon found out that in Hephzibah he was dealing with a truthful girl; for the tale, though oft repeated, never varied. What girl has any secret from the man she loves? Hephzibah Wallis formed no exception to the rule. But it never dawned on her, at least not then, that she was being "pumped." She put down Mr. Capt's complaisance to his interest in her; and though, as servants will, she at times asked him questions about his master, she merely admired him the more when they were dexterously parried, for the confidential valet, in regard to Haggard, ever remained discretion itself.
Great was Georgie's delight when she got the first letter from her husband. Till now they had never been separated; is it to be wondered at, then, that she locked herself up with the treasure? After the usual protestations and the regulation amount of sentiment, sentiment which, hackneyed though it was, brought ready tears of pleasure into the young wife's eyes, Haggard announced his immediate departure by the mail steamer. "I'm off to-morrow, Georgie," he said, "for I find life in London without you perfectly unbearable. I am hastening my departure that we may the sooner meet again," here followed several sentences of the usual thing. The fact was that Haggard found himself once more a sort of lion in spite of himself, but he also detected a rather chilling reception in many quarters; he was most gushingly received by the least reputable of his lady acquaintances. Mrs. Charmington, in a long tête-à-tête with which she had favoured him, had called him "her hero." But Mrs. Charmington was already on the wane, and as he had no wish to be her hero now he rather fought shy of her. At the Pandemonium he was as popular as ever, rather more so in fact; for since the baccarat affair, particularly as he was away, he had acted as a sort of scapegoat for the sins of the many. It was rather a nuisance, too, to find that wherever he went he excited a considerable amount of attention. Even when seated in the stalls of his favourite theatres, those temples where the sacred lamp of burlesque is so carefully tended, it was annoying to find the glances of all those airily-costumed and magnificently-developed females, who are known as the Lotties and the Totties, concentrated on himself.