'But it was wicked to have been so silent.'
'Oh! no, no, no! Such ideas never entered into my head, nor even mamma's. You were very young; you did as all would, as all must do. Harbour not such thoughts. Enough, you have returned and love us yet.'
'Love! adore!'
'Five years are a long space of time, Plantagenet. Events will happen in five years, even at Cherbury. I told you I was changed.'
'Yes!' said Lord Cadurcis, in a voice of some anxiety, with a scrutinising eye.
'You left me a happy child; you find me a woman, and a miserable one.'
'Good God, Venetia! this suspense is awful. Be brief, I pray you. Has any one—'
Venetia looked at him with an air of perplexity. She could not comprehend the idea that impelled his interruption.
'Go on,' Lord Cadurcis added, after a short pause; 'I am indeed all anxiety.'
'You remember that Christmas which you passed at the hall and walking at night in the gallery, and—'