"Insolence!" gasped Lady Melton, when she comprehended the contents of this astonishing communication. Then turning to her maid, she commanded:
"If this person's trunk arrives here, have it sent back to him instantly." And she fumed with rage at the thought.
"How dare he suppose that I would for a moment accept a gratuity!"
Indeed, so wrought up was she that it was with difficulty that she controlled herself sufficiently to breakfast on the terrace. Moreover, her interview with Bright, the butler, whom she encountered on her way downstairs and who announced the arrival of her great-nephew and a strange lady, was hardly soothing; for it forced her to believe that that faithful servant, after years of probity, had at last strayed from the temperate paths of virtue. Seeing him dishevelled and bewildered, she had sternly rebuked him for his appearance, and from his disjointed replies had only gathered that his astounding state was in some way due to the Consul.
"Has that insolent person's trunk arrived?" she inquired; when, to her astonishment, her old retainer, who had always observed in her presence a respectful and highly deferential demeanour, actually tittered.
"Bright!" she said sternly.
"Beg pardon, my lady," giggled Bright, his face still wreathed in smiles; "but the way you put it."
"What have you done with this person's belongings? Have my orders been carried out?"
"You mean in regard to the—the——"
"Trunk. Yes, let it be put off the place immediately."