She threw him a little reassuring smile, and passed out.
The fragrance of violets, the sound of her low voice, the card upon the table, remained.
David took up the pen and made the entry in the vestry book: two pounds, eight shillings, and seven pence halfpenny. Then he gathered up all the little piles of silver and copper, and put them into his coat pockets; but Diana's sovereign he slipped by itself into one waistcoat pocket, and her card into the other.
Then suddenly he realised—poor David—that she had stood beside him during the whole interview, while he had sat on the vestry stool.
He sprang to his feet. "Oh I say!" he cried. "Oh—I say!"
But there was nothing to say; and no one to whom to say it.
Poor David!
He sat down again, put his elbows on the table, and dropped his head into his hands.
Diana Rivers of Riverscourt! Patron of four livings! Acknowledged leader of the gayest set in the county; known far and wide for her independence of character and advanced views!