She looked up quickly.
“Then are you going, Eustace?”
“I must go soon, quite soon, Bride. I do not know exactly when this new Parliament will first meet. The polling in the country is not over yet, but it soon will be now; and there is much to learn and to discuss before the House meets. I cannot delay much longer, now that I have a seat of my own.”
“No, I had forgotten for a moment. Of course, you are a member of Parliament now.”
He looked at her rather searchingly.
“Bride—tell me that you do not despise me for it?”
“Oh, no, Eustace, I do not despise you. I hope I do not despise anybody. I think it is very sad that men and women should ever hate or despise each other. We have all our faults and our imperfections. We ought to be very gentle and loving and patient.”
He wished she would be just a little less impersonal in her replies; and yet he could not wish her other than she was. He put out his hand and laid it softly on hers.
“Bride,” he said, “you have not given me the promise I asked for.”
She did not take her hand away, but let his lie upon it as they sat together in the soft evening light. She turned her sweet face towards him. It was not flushed, and was very calm and tranquil; yet, deep down in those liquid dark eyes there was a look which sent the blood coursing through his veins in a fashion that made him giddy for a moment. Yet he showed nothing outwardly, and she saw nothing to alarm her or drive her into herself.