With this prudent resolve she hurried on, and burst into the little room out of breath, to find Jeffrey seated at the table and waiting for his supper.
He looked up with his keen glance, and nodded.
“I am so sorry I’ve kept you waiting, Jeffrey,” she said, humbly, as she threw her hat on the sofa and went to the table.
“No matter,” he said; “you have been walking up and down in the fields studying, I know,” and he nodded. “It is just the hour, the mystic gloaming, when the brain quickens and ideas are born.”
“Yes,” she said, her long lashes covering her eyes. “I have been in the fields, and, Jeffrey, I’ve had an adventure!”
“Cows?” he said, absently. “There is nothing like the open air for such work as you have in hand. Rachel, the greatest actress of her time, or any other, did most of her work in the open air——”
“It wasn’t cows,” she broke in, trying to speak in a matter-of-fact voice; “it was a horse,” and she laughed a little nervously.
“My kingdom for a horse,” he quoted, failing to see the unusual color in her face, and not observing that she was making a mere pretense of eating, just breaking a piece of toast with her fingers and sipping her coffee. “And are you more satisfied now? I have only just come from the theatre; the booking is the heaviest they have had for years. I have persuaded the manager to increase the orchestra! Have you seen your dress? It has come, and I had it sent up to your room.”
“I did not go up; I will try it on directly.”
He pushed his chair back, and began walking up and down the room, his hands crossed behind his bent back, his head drooping, his glittering eyes fixed on the floor.