Gerard rose quickly, stammered an incoherent apology, not with any appearance of dismay or despair, but quietly and conventionally, and then went out of the room.
The viscount was puzzled by his behaviour, but was, on the whole, thankful that these painful disclosures had passed off so quietly.
When the family reassembled at dinner, however, Gerard was absent, and inquiries elicited the fact that he had left the house almost immediately after coming out of the study.
Lord Clanfield looked uneasily at his sons.
Geoffrey nodded astutely.
“Gone to have it out with her, you bet!” he muttered to his brother.
Lord Clanfield caught the whisper.
“It’s very unfortunate. We ought to have foreseen——” he muttered uneasily.
But Geoffrey shrugged his shoulders, and said in a low voice:—
“Better that he should know all, and have done with her, sir! After all, it had to come. And it’s less disgrace to the family to break with her than for the present condition of things to become known and talked about.”