“You had better talk to the steward about that.”
“Very well, sir,” and she made her courtesy.
Reginald remained, not knowing exactly what to do.
“My dear,” said Lady Bassett, “Reginald has come to bid us good-by. He is going to visit Mr. Rolfe, and take his advice, if you have no objection.”
“None whatever; and I hope he will treat it with more respect than he does mine.”
Reginald shrugged his shoulders, and was going out, when Lady Bassett said, “Won't you kiss me, Reginald, as you are going away?”
He came to her: she kissed him, and whispered in his ear, “Be true to me, as I will be to you.”
Then he left her, and she felt like a dead thing, with exhaustion. She lay on the sofa, and Sir Charles sat beside her, and made her drink a glass of wine.
She lay very still that afternoon; but at night she slept: a load was off her mind for the present.
Next day she was so much better she came down to dinner.