HOW TITA, RUNNING FROM THE ENEMY, SUDDENLY FINDS HERSELF FACE TO FACE WITH ANOTHER FOE; AND HOW SHE FIGHTS A SECOND BATTLE, AND COMES OFF VICTORIOUS!
Tita, once out of the sight of Maurice, had run home very quickly. She knew that she was crying, and despised herself for so doing, but could not check her tears. She was not sure what they meant, grief or rage. Perhaps a little of both. All her guests were in the garden, so she would not return to the house that way, though it was much the nearest; but turning into a side path she made for a point in the shrubberies, from which one could get to the armoury door without being seen by anyone.
She is wrong in her calculations, however, for just as she steps into the shrubbery walk, she finds herself face to face with Tom Hescott.
"Tita! You have been crying!" says he suddenly, after a devouring glance at her small face, that indeed shows all the signs of woe.
"No, no!" cries Tita breathlessly.
She puts up her hands in protestation. She has grown crimson with shame and vexation.
"You have," says Hescott, almost savagely. The knowledge that he is leaving to-morrow (they are all leaving except the elder Lady Rylton) has rendered him desperate, and made more difficult of concealment the mad passion he entertains for her. "What has happened?" he asks, going closer to her and letting his cigar drop to the ground. "Are you unhappy? You," breathing quickly, "have been unhappy for a long time!"
"And even so, am I the only person in the world who is unhappy? Are you never unhappy?" demands Tita defiantly.
"God knows I am, always!" says Hescott. "But you! That you should be unhappy!"
"Never mind me," says Tita petulantly. "And I must say," with a little flaming glance at him, "that it would have been in much better taste if you—if you had pretended to see that I was not crying."