Then dinner was announced, and for the second time that day they walked arm-in-arm.
“It seems a little strange, doesn’t it?” suggested Morris as he surveyed the great refectory in which they two, seated at the central table, looked so lone and small.
“Yes,” she answered; “but so it should, anything quite usual would have been out of place to-day.”
Then he asked her how her father was going on, and heard what he had already learned from the doctor, that he was doing as well as could be expected.
“By the way, Mr. Monk,” she added; “if you can spare a few minutes after dinner, and are not too tired, he would so much like to see you.”
“Of course,” answered Morris a little nervously, for he scented a display of fervent gratitude.
After this they dropped into desultory conversation, curiously different from the intimate talk which passed between them in the boat. Then they had been in danger, and at times in the very shadow of Death; a condition that favours confidences since those who stand beneath his wings no longer care to hide their hearts. The reserves which so largely direct our lives are lifted, their necessity is past, and in the face of the last act of Nature, Nature asserts herself. Who cares to continue to play a part when the audience has dispersed, the curtain is falling, and the pay-box has put up its shutters? Now, very unexpectedly these two were on the stage again, and each assumed the allotted role.
Stella admired the room; whereon Morris set to work to explain its characteristics, to find, to his astonishment, that Miss Fregelius had more knowledge of architecture than he could boast. He pointed out certain details, alleging them to be Elizabethan work, to which age they had been credited for generations, whereon she suggested and, indeed, proved, that some of them dated from the earlier years of Henry VIII., and that some were late Jacobean. While Morris was wondering how he could combat this revolutionary opinion, the servant brought in a telegram. It was from Mary, at Beaulieu, and ran:
“Had not heard that you were drowned, but am deeply thankful that you are saved. Why did you pass a night at sea in this weather? Is it a riddle? Grieved to say my father not so well. Best love, and please keep on shore.
MARY.”