“You understand!” he said. “There, look at her!” he cried, pointing. “Why, the girl loves him after all.”
Julia was coming slowly up the path, with Crellock bending down and talking to her earnestly, till he reached the window, which Hallam unfastened, shrinking back and leaving the room, as if he could not face his child.
As Julia entered, Crellock seemed to have no wish to encounter Mrs Hallam, and he drew back and went round the house to the study window, where he stopped leaning on the verandah-rail and gazing in, as Hallam stood at the cupboard, pouring himself out some more brandy.
He had the glass in one hand, the bottle in the other, when he caught sight of the figure at the window, and with a start and cry of horror he dropped bottle and glass.
“Bah! where is your nerve, man?” cried Crellock with a laugh of contempt. “Did you think it was a sergeant with a file of men to fetch you away?”
“You—you startled me,” cried Hallam angrily. “All that brandy gone!”
“A good thing too! You’ve had plenty. Well, have you told her?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“The old thing.”