There was a few seconds’ silence before Anne said—
“I imagine you would like me to congratulate you. I hope you will be happy.”
“Thanks. I might not have spoken of it for a day or two, but that I thought it might influence your own decision.”
“Hardly.” Both voices were cold, but Anne’s the coldest, and she spoke with a sweet modulation which irritated Lady Dalrymple, conscious of her own harsher tones. Her next words were more hasty.
“Hitherto, at any rate, you have had a home with me.”
“By my father’s will it was provided for, I think?”
Lady Dalrymple’s fingers tapped the arms of her chair impatiently.
“Certainly. But alone, you will not find that you can live in the same comfort. If you could, General Hervey is not likely to permit it.”
For the first time there was a trace of uneasiness in Anne’s repetition of the name.
“General Hervey?”