Instead Miss Freyne eyed her cousin with distant rancour, and came in to luncheon in a dangerous mood.
She congratulated him on having improved his figure, and warned him against baked potatoes, and hoped his indigestion was quite gone. The horses she ignored completely.
The failure of the plan made Mr. Freyne visibly ill-humoured. He came majestically to the drawing-room, where he shut all the windows, and helped his sister to lecture Gheena. It was disconcerting when Gheena excused herself as she had an engagement.
"We are taking tea with Violet," she said politely. "We are walking," she said hurriedly, when Lancelot began to get up, "and you could not come."
George Freyne said, "Of all the obstinate, ill-mannered—" when Gheena had closed the door. "But if she thought she is going to have her own way——"
As they walked to the village they met Basil Stafford in his car, and Gheena remembered the letter, and with her eyes completely devoid of cunning she told the story of the scraps, watching him closely.
His quick reply was that he would give a great deal to see the scraps. Gheena remarked that she was going to show it to someone, and she remarked it malevolently.
Mr. Stafford became eloquent. He said that scraps of information might be valuable in war-times, and if there was anything in the letter, he would see that it went to the proper people.
"The people who would like to see it," said Gheena meaningly.
Finding Mrs. Weston out, they invaded the Professor, who made toast for them himself, and sent to the shops for strawberry jam and barley sugar, which he smashed into neat pieces and piled on a plate in tiers. Gheena told him also of the letter.