XL
Mr. Langhope, tossing down a note on Mrs. Ansell's drawing-room table, commanded imperiously: "Read that!"
She set aside her tea-cup, and looked up, not at the note, but into his face, which was crossed by one of the waves of heat and tremulousness that she was beginning to fear for him. Mr. Langhope had changed greatly in the last three months; and as he stood there in the clear light of the June afternoon it came to her that he had at last suffered the sudden collapse which is the penalty of youth preserved beyond its time.
"What is it?" she asked, still watching him as she put out her hand for the letter.
"Amherst writes to remind me of my promise to take Cicely to Hanaford next week, for her birthday."
"Well—it was a promise, wasn't it?" she rejoined, running her eyes over the page.
"A promise—yes; but made before.... Read the note—you'll see there's no reference to his wife. For all I know, she'll be there to receive us."
"But that was a promise too."
"That neither Cicely nor I should ever set eyes on her? Yes. But why should she keep it? I was a fool that day—she fooled me as she's fooled us all! But you saw through it from the beginning—you said at once that she'd never leave him."