Here they all start. A loud ring at the big gate over there has taken them from their own immediate concerns—to another. Ella turns deadly white, and shows a distinct desire to get behind Susan. Mrs. Denis is to be seen in the distance, flying towards the entrance-gate.
Presently it is opened by her, and Wyndham walks in.
CHAPTER XXVI.
‘“Mark ye,” he sings, “in modest maiden guise
The red rose peeping from her leafy nest;
Half opening, now half closed, the jewel lies:
More bright her beauty seems, the more represt.”’
Wyndham pauses in the gateway, and then comes forward. His astonishment at seeing the two Barrys here is unbounded, so unbounded, indeed, that Ella, who has been the first to see him, and who therefore naturally has been the first to notice it, is quite frightened. She goes quickly to him.
‘It was my fault. I asked them to come in. Do you mind?’
‘I mind? I quite understood that it was you who would mind,’ says he. There is no time for any more. Susan has come forward.