“Quite,” said Esmeralda, rising.
With intense thankfulness, she found that she could stand quite steadily.
“You will be able to rest during the journey,” said Lady Wyndover. “I am so glad that I arranged you should drive all the way, and not bother with trains! I hope you will find everything nice, and—and— Oh, dear! I have got to say good-bye now, and I’m afraid I’m going to break down, too!” and the little woman, whose heart was of the truest metal, notwithstanding the gilt and tinsel of her exterior, put her arms round Esmeralda and hugged her just as any washer-woman might have hugged her newly married and just-departing daughter.
Esmeralda trembled, and gripped the small, tightly corseted figure almost painfully. She could not speak for the lump that rose in her throat and threatened to choke her. She kissed the painted and powdered face twice, thrice, and Lady Wyndover did not shrink or avoid the art-destroying kiss.
“Good-bye, dear! Oh, I didn’t think I should feel it like this! But no one can help loving you, dear; no one, and”—with a sob—“I’ve grown as fond of you as if you were my own. Don’t—don’t forget me in—in your happiness, Esmeralda. It will seem awfully lonely and desolate without you! Oh, what a selfish little beast I am! Barker, have you got the marchioness’s dressing-bag and the jewel-case? Don’t let them out of your hand. Good-bye, dearest, dearest! You must go!”
They followed her down the stairs. The rest of the guests had come into the hall, and were laughing and talking. There was a great deal of excitement among the men and the younger women, for, though persons of their class do not take too much champagne, they take enough.
Lord Ffoulkes had a fairy-like slipper in one hand and a bag of rice in the other. There was a quantity of bags of rice altogether.
At sight of the bride they broke into a kind of subdued cheer. Esmeralda, looking down, saw them as through a mist, a mist out of which grew prominently the tall, commanding figure of Trafford. He stood at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for her. As she came, his grave face lighted up with a smile of welcome.
Her eyes met his for a moment, then looked away.
The duke stood near the door, leaning on his stick.