"Should you, my love? Then we will go, and leave your maid in the next room, in case you should want anything."
For a few minutes I lay in silence, feeling cold and wretched, the throbbing in my head and the ticking of the clock in the passage seeming to keep time. The faint echo of some distant cries reached my ears, and I could distinguish the words of "Middleton for ever!" I trembled and hid my face in my pillow. What would they cry out next? They shouted louder still; and my maid came in on tiptoe, and when I turned round and looked at her, she said, "I thought they would have woke you, Ma'am. They are hallooing so, because Mr. Middleton is coming home; and they are cheering him all the way."
Coming home! He, Edward! To me! The husband of her who… Oh, had he heard those words? had he noticed them? Would he repeat them? and as he did, would a sudden light flash on his brain, and the whole truth burst upon him at once? There had been a scuffle in that gallery. What was it? I must know; I must hear; I must speak to Henry.
"More shouting! more hallooing!"
"Mr. Middleton is coming in, Ma'am."
"Lock the door, and say I am asleep."
"What were you pleased to say, Ma'am?"
"Nothing, nothing. Do I look very ill?"
"Not very ill, Ma'am."
Edward came, and in a kind manner said, "My own love, I am so vexed to hear that you have been poorly. You ought not to have come. How are you now?"