“It has made me reckless,” continued Mrs. Temple, “and I often wonder now, mother, where it will end. But on the whole I rather like John Temple, and—he must have nothing to do with this Churchill girl. I will speak to Phillip about it. Both those boys played in that fatal game—who knows? one of them may have been my darling’s murderer.”
She burst into passionate sobs as she ended this speech, and her mother saw it was useless to say anything more. When these fits of excitement came over Rachel Temple, no one had the least control over her. She became, as she had said, reckless, and in this mood she continued the whole of the remainder of the day.
In the meanwhile John Temple was against his will being detained by his uncle, who had been out on business in the morning, and only returned to the hall after his wife and Mrs. Layton had left the luncheon table.
The squire, as the ladies had been, was eager to hear all about the inquest, and John, though inwardly impatient to start for Woodside, was obliged to go through the whole details again to his uncle.
It was late in the afternoon when he found himself free, and then he at once proceeded to the farm. But when he arrived there he found Mr. Churchill was from home.
“When will he be back?” he inquired of the neat maid-servant.
But as he spoke, May Churchill, who had been watching for him, came across the hall from the drawing-room.
“My father was obliged to go out at four o’clock, Mr. Temple,” she said in her sweet-toned voice, “but I do not think he will be very long away. Will you come in and have some tea?”
John gladly accepted this invitation. He followed May into the drawing-room, and sat there drinking tea and looking in her fair face. It was a very pretty room, sweet with flowers, and gracefully furnished. Everything seemed to suit the young mistress, and John was half-unconscious how long he stayed there. The shadows began to lengthen, the sun dipped behind the hills, and still he remained. Then presently the moon rose, and still Mr. Churchill had not returned.