"Any one can see that! You have even got My Lady's fool. Look at Arthur—with mud on his boots—jumping about!"
And Lord Elterton felt very flattered. He knew his old friend was jealous, and if he were jealous then the charming, cold lady must have been unbelievingly nice to him, and that meant he was getting on!
"You are jealous because your lovely bride prefers me, Young Lochinvar," and he laughed as he quoted:
"'For so faithful in love and so dauntless in war—
There ne'er was a gallant like Young Lochinvar!'"
And Zara saw that Tristram's eyes flashed blue steel, and that he did not like the chaff at all. So, just out of some contrariness—he had been with Lady Highford all day so why should she not amuse herself, too; indeed, why should either of them care what the other did—so just out of contrariness she smiled again at Lord Elterton and said:
"'Then tread we a measure, my Lord Lochinvar.'"
And off they went.
And Tristram, with his face more set than the Crusader ancestor's in Wrayth Church, said to his uncle, Lord Charles, "We are all wet through: let us come along."
And he turned round and went out.