CHAPTER XXI
THE next afternoon as Lee was taking tea with the other guests in the library she happened to glance out of the window, and saw Lord Barnstaple returning from the moors, alone. It was an unusual occurrence, for he was an ardent and vigorous sportsman. Ten minutes later she became aware that a servant in the corridor was endeavouring to attract her attention. She went out at once and closed the door. The servant told her that Lord Barnstaple desired an interview with her in his own sitting-room; he feared interruptions in her boudoir.
Lee went rapidly to his rooms, curious and uneasy. She felt very much like running away, but Lord Barnstaple had been consistently kind to her, and was justified in demanding what return she could give him.
He was walking up and down, and his eyebrows were more perturbed than supercilious.
“I want to know if you will give me a little help,” he said abruptly.
“Of course I will do anything I can.”
“I want that bounder, Pix, put out of this house. I can’t stand him another day without insulting him, and of course I don’t want to do that. But he is Emmy’s guest and she can get rid of him—I don’t care how she does it. Of course I can’t speak to her; she would be in hysterics before I was half through; and would keep him here to spite me.”
“And you want me to speak to her?”
“I’m not asking you to undertake a very pleasant task; but you’re the only person who has the least influence over her, except Cecil—and I don’t care to speak to him about it.”
“But what am I to say to her? What excuse?”