Lord Clanfield, although this was the very decision at which he had wished her to arrive, was taken aback when it was reached.
“Do—do you mean it? Will you consent to leave him with me?” he said incredulously.
“And am I to have nothing to say in the matter?” asked Gerard, with not unnatural irritation.
Audrey, having made up her mind what she ought to do, turned to him with a laugh which indeed was forced, but which she carried through cleverly and well.
“Nothing whatever,” she said. “At present, at any rate. Stay here where you are well cared for, and rest assured I am well off too, working hard, and making money. Oh, lots of money! And don’t look so worried. You ought to be as happy in knowing that I am well, as I am in knowing that you are free and—and in good hands. Good-bye, my dear, dear boy. Thank God for letting me see you, know that——”
A catch in her voice stopped her, and she threw her arms round him and pressed her lips to his, while Lord Clanfield, stiff, upright, and unbending, stood at the window with his back towards them.
Gerard stared into her face with haggard, disappointed eyes.
“Do you mean you’re going? That I’m to lose you already? What does it mean, Audrey, what does it mean?”
“It means,” answered she readily, “that we’re doing the best for us both. For us both.”
“When will you come again?”