"Ah, she is a phlegmatic Scot! I have no fear of her losing her head."
They were interrupted by the butler's coming into the room with the announcement that Lady Barbara Childe was below and wished to speak to the Earl.
Judith was astounded. She had not thought that after their encounter on the previous night Lady Barbara would dare to accost her again, let alone call at her residence. She looked at Worth, but he merely raised his eyebrows, and said: "Well, I am at home, and perfectly ready to receive visitors. I don't understand why they are left in the hall. Beg her ladyship to come up."
"Yes, my lord," said the butler, his bosom swelling at the reproof. "I should have done so in the first place . But that her ladyship desired me to carry the message."
He withdrew, stately and outraged. The door had scarcely shut behind him when Judith's feelings got the better of her. She exclaimed: "I wish you had sent her about her business! I do not see why I should be obliged to receive her in my house! And that you should be willing to do so gives me a very poor opinion of your loyalty to Charles!"
"I cannot think that Charles would thank me for turning Lady Barbara away from my door," he replied.
There was no time for more; the butler opened the door and announced Barbara; and she came into the room with her long, mannish stride.
Judith rose, but before she had time to speak she was forestalled.
"I didn't mean to force myself into your presence," Barbara said. "I am sorry. My business is with your husband." She paused, and a wintry, rueful smile flashed across her face. "Oh, the devil! My curst tongue again! Don't look so stiff: I have not come to wreck your marriage." This was said with a good deal of bitterness. She forced herself to speak more lightly, and added, looking in her clear way at Worth: "I couldn't, could I? You at least have never succumbed to my famous charms."
"No, never," he replied imperturbably. "Will you not sit down?"