He was thinking that, despite social artifice and worldliness, she was sentimental.
"Because there will be trouble. I can see it. You may trust a woman's instinct; and I know that man!" He did not reply at once, but presently said:
"I fancy I must keep my promise."
"What is the book you are reading?" she said, changing the subject, for
Sir William was listening.
He opened it, and smiled musingly.
"It is called Affairs of Some Consequence in the Reign of Charles I. In reading it I seemed to feel that it was incorrect, and my mind kept wandering away into patches of things—incidents, scenes, bits of talk —as I fancied they really were, not apocryphal or 'edited' as here."
"I say," said Cluny, "that's rum, isn't it?"
"For instance," Gaston continued, "this tale of King Charles and Buckingham." He read it. "Now here is the scene as I picture it." In quick elliptical phrases he gave the tale from a different stand-point.
Sir William stared curiously at Gaston, then felt for some keys in his pocket. He got up and rang the bell. Gaston was still talking. He gave the keys to Falby with a whispered word. In a few moments Falby placed a small leather box beside Sir William, and retired at a nod. Sir William presently said: "Where did you read those things?"
"I do not know that I ever read them."