"You will make me late for dinner!" I exclaimed. "But you reminded me of grandmamma and the Marquis and made me talk."
"May I come again to-night—to return La Rochefoucauld?" he asked, with his droll smile.
"I do not know. We shall see." And I ran into my room, leaving him standing beside the fire.
X
When I got into my bedroom the door was open into Augustus's room beyond. He had not come up to dress. Indeed, when I was quite ready to go down to dinner he had not yet appeared.
Half-past eight sounded.
I descended the stairs quickly and went along the passage towards his "den." There I met his valet.
"Mr. Gurrage is asleep, ma'am," he said, "and does not seem inclined to wake, ma'am," and he held the door open for me to pass into the room.
Augustus was lying in his big chair, before the fire, his face crimson, his mouth wide open, and snoring and breathing very heavily. He was still in his shooting-things.
An indescribable smell of scorching tweed and spirit pervaded the room.