“And all for a man who doesn’t appreciate you, who likes Annie better than you?”
“It is not true,” said she fiercely. “If I believed that, she should not stay in the house a day longer—I would not rest until I got the little hypocrite turned out! But it is not true—it is not true! Now, will you desert me at the last just when I am so wretched, and have nobody to help me?”
“I will serve you to the end, for good or for evil, as I have always done, Lily; you know I live only for that. When you are gone, whether Mr. Falconer marries you or somebody else, my wretched life will be no good to me, and I don’t care how soon I lose it. No one will ever worship you as I do, Lily, nor for so little thanks.”
But she soothed him with sweet words and kind eyes. She did indeed feel the strength of his devotion, and, moreover, he was too useful an ally not to be worth a few kind speeches.
So the letter was sent, and the answer came—and the secret was safe.
Since the regular hunting-season had begun, Harry’s neglect of his wife had not only grown more open than ever, but had been supplemented by sneers at her “refined tastes” and “poetry, prunes, prism” manners. She could not tell the cause of this change, and went on quietly in her own way, dutifully caring for his small comforts, and accepting his coarse snubs with the same placid indifference with which she had formerly taken his scanty thanks.
When Christmas Day arrived it was spent just as Lilian had predicted. In the morning the ladies went to church, accompanied by Stephen and William. As there was no hunting, and Lady Braithwaite had insisted upon the grooms having a holiday, the other young men spent the afternoon in the stable and the billiard-room, wrangling more than usual. Wilfred had already remonstrated with George for teasing Harry.
“You are always saying things to put his back up now. What do you do it for?” he asked.
“I don’t care a straw what he says!” cried Harry, sullenly, who was flushed and excited long before the afternoon was over. “And, as for my not being ‘a person of authority,’ as he calls it, I have as much authority as anybody here.”
“Over whom or over what, pray?” said George, tauntingly. “I don’t say you can’t manage a horse as well as—an hostler; but show me the man or woman on whom your word or your opinion has the slightest effect.”