Helen rapidly reviewed those premisses. There was really a great deal to be said in defence of the girl if she decided to throw Jaye over. If she had been just attracted by this brilliant half-back in League matches, with his speed and his swiftness, and his certainty for some years to come of a good income, it would be requiring a heroism on her part to stick to a bargain which had lost its allurement. And yet you found heroisms where you would never look for them: her going back to the Isle of Man showed a capacity for devotion. Again, the real Jaye, something she had found in him, independent of his right leg, might have drawn her. Certainly, she must come down and see Jaye, but Helen wished that her family did not live quite so far away. Or would it be better for Jaye to go up there, when he had got his new leg and a facility in its use....
She was debating this when she saw her husband approaching them across the grass. He had not let her know that he was coming to-day, though she had been expecting to hear from him, by any post, that he could get down for a day and a night. The posts, too, were very irregular, he might easily have written, and the letter not yet arrived. But even as this went through her mind, and seemed all reasonable enough, she knew that she was holding at arm’s length a fear that threatened to spring upon her.
“We must talk about it again, Jaye,” she said, “for I must leave you now, as I see Lord Grote is coming to look for me. But I like her for having gone to the Isle of Man to see after her father.”
She left him with a smile and a nod, and struck on to the grass to meet her husband.
“I did not expect you,” she said, as they came within speaking distance, “but it is quite delightful to see you. Did you write or telegraph to say that you were coming? I have not received anything.”
“No, my dear,” said he. “I didn’t write or telegraph. I—I just came.”
She faced him quite quietly, knowing already that she knew. There was no tremor in her voice when she spoke.
“It’s about Robin, then,” she said. “Tell me: what about Robin?”
He took both her hands in his, and she spoke again:
“Robin has been killed,” she said.