Mrs. Hammond laughed a short bitter laugh and said, "You have even lost that grand virtue which you possessed--the power of concealing your emotions. With the gravity, you have attained the simplicity of the Oriental; and you now--"
She was interrupted by the servant's throwing open the door and announcing, "Sir Charles Mitford."
That gentleman entered immediately on the announcement of his name, with a certain air of empressement which vanished so soon as he saw Colonel Alsager's broad back. Laura Hammond prided herself on never having been taken unawares. When speaking to Alsager her face had been curling with sneers, her voice harsh and strident; but before Sir Charles Mitford had crossed the threshold, she had wreathed her mouth in smiles, and as she shook hands with him, though aloud she only uttered the ordinary commonplaces, in a lower tone she said, "I thought you would come to-day."
Alsager heard her say it. That was a singular property of his--that gift of hearing anything that might be said, no matter in how large a party, or how earnestly he might be supposed to be talking. It had saved his life once; and he had assiduously cultivated it ever since. Mitford heard it too, but thickly. He had not had as much experience in the cadences of the demi-voix as Laurence.
"How are you, Alsager? We seem to be always tumbling over each other now, don't we? and the oftener the better, I say.--How d'ye do, Mrs. Hammond? I say, what's all this that you've been saying to my wife?"
Laurence started, and then reverted to the album which lay on his knees. Mrs. Hammond saw the start, and the means adopted for hiding it, and smiled quietly.
"I don't know what I said in particular to Lady Mitford; nothing to frighten her, I hope," said Mrs. Hammond; "I was congratulating myself that she and I had got on so very well together."
"O yes, so you did, of course," said Sir Charles,--"sisters, and all that kind of thing. But I mean what you said to her about leaving town."
"Oh, that's perfectly correct. Mr. Hammond has seen Sir Charles Dumfunk and Dr. Wadd, and they both concur in saying that he ought not to have left Florence until the spring; and that he must leave London forthwith."
"And they have recommended Torquay as the best place for him; at least so my wife tells me."