“But I have not come from the men,” said the vicar.
“Then what is it?” said Richard, who had a horror of being left alone with his visitor. “Speak out.”
“I would rather tell you in private,” said the vicar, glancing uneasily at the two women.
“If it is any fresh trouble, Mr Selwood, pray speak out,” said Mrs Glaire, anxiously. “But Miss Pelly?”
“Richard is to be my husband in a few days, Mr Selwood,” said Eve, smiling sadly, as she rose and stood beside him, with her hands resting on his shoulder. “If it is trouble, I have a right to share it with him.”
“There, let’s have it,” said Richard, rudely. “They will have to hear whatever it is.”
The vicar hesitated a moment or two, and tried to collect himself, for Eve’s last words sent a pang through his breast, as they seemed to tear the last fibre that had held her to him.
At last he spoke.
“I have little to tell. My news is shadowy and undefined, but I fear it is very real.”
“Well, tell me, man, tell me,” said Richard; who, while assuming an air of bravado, began to look white.