"Hypocrite!" he says to himself, as he fastens the door of his own room.
A baby's face, and the heart of a liar! She had played with him; she had fooled him; she had, at all events, refused to say she regretted her conduct with her cousin.
He goes down to the garden, feeling it impossible to sleep just now, and, coming back two hours later, finds the ring he had given her lying on his dressing-table. There is no note with it—not even a single line.
CHAPTER IX.
HOW MRS. BETHUNE IS BROUGHT BEFORE THE BAR; AND HOW SHE GIVES HER EVIDENCE AGAINST TITA; AND HOW MAURICE'S MOTHER DESIRES AN INTERVIEW WITH MAURICE'S WIFE.
"And now for the news," says the elder Lady Rylton, next morning, leaning back in her chair; she objects to the word "Dowager."
Contrary to all expectations, she had arrived to-day at half-past eight, and is now, at one o'clock, sitting in her room with Mrs. Bethune before her. She had seen Tita, of course; but only for a moment or so, as she had been in a hurry to get to her bedroom and her maid, and have the ravages that travel had laid upon her old-young face obliterated. She had, indeed, been furious (secretly) with Tita for having come out of her room to bid her welcome—such bad taste, obtruding one's self upon a person in the early hours of the morning, when one has only just left a train. But what can one expect from a plebeian!
"News?" says Marian, lifting her brows.
"Well," testily, "I suppose there is some! How is the ménage going on? How is it being managed, eh? You have a tongue, my dear—speak! I suppose you can tell me something!"
"Something! Yes."