His look expressed both surprise and doubt.
“A month? But I thought—I had an idea—that she went only a few days ago.”
“In the day time?”
“To Great Portland Street, I mean—to hear a lecture, or something of that kind, by Miss Barfoot.”
Rhoda kept silence for a moment. Then she replied hastily—
“Oh yes—very likely—I wasn’t there that afternoon.”
“I see. That would explain—”
He seemed relieved, but only for the instant; then his eyes glanced hither and thither, with painful restlessness. Rhoda observed him closely. After fidgeting with his feet, he suddenly took a stiff position, and said in a louder voice—
“We are going to leave London altogether. I have decided to take a house at my wife’s native place, Clevedon. Her sisters will come and live with us.”
“That is a recent decision, Mr. Widdowson?”