“I hope he has done nothing foolish!” Theo said, a crease appearing between his brows. “He almost knocked me over when he brushed past me on his way out of the house, and looked as though he would have willingly murdered me, had I dared to address him.”
“Poor Theo!” said the Earl lightly. “I’m afraid you were acting as my scapegoat — or possibly Lucy’s!”
“Did you quarrel?” Theo asked, the crease deepening.
“It takes two to make a quarrel.”
“Evasion, Gervase! Was he — ” He broke off, for a quick footstep was heard approaching the library across the Great Hall beyond it, and in another instant Martin had entered the room.
He was looking tired, and pale, his face rather set, and his expressive eyes sombre. He checked on the threshold when he saw his cousin, and ejaculated: “Oh — ! You here!”
“Do you wish to speak to Gervase? I am just off to bed.”
“It doesn’t signify. I have no doubt you know the whole!” He glanced at St. Erth, and then lowered his eyes. “I only wished to say — I was in a rage!”
“Yes, I know,” the Earl replied quietly.
Another fleeting glance was cast up at him. “I think I said — I don’t know: I do say things, in a rage, which — which I don’t mean!”