"A child's love!" Kathleen thought, "a child's love, very real, very wonderful, with such power to bring grief or joy and yet after all only a child's love—mine lasted for ten long years and—and then it passed—Little Betty's, how long will hers last? Ten days, ten hours perhaps—not longer—poor, pretty, shallow little Betty, yet so lovable—and he, my darling, my Allan was afraid—afraid of her for a time—yes thank God afraid—and told her so nobly and bravely." She smiled at her thoughts and Scarsdale, looking at her, wondered what made her smile.
"What are you thinking of Kathleen?" he said.
"Of my husband," she said gently.
Scarsdale turned away, he looked out into the garden. Should he stay, was there still room for hope? Was she acting a part as he believed and hoped, or did it mean that she had ceased to care, that what she had told him there beside the pool was true, that her love for him had died? Yet it might not be dead, only slumbering for a while, when she found, as she would find, that Homewood was untrue to her, that of nights he was meeting a girl, a servant maid in the garden, that he loved that girl, what then? Would she not come back to him, eager for his love and sympathy and protection? He hoped so and believed so.
"I will wait a while yet," he thought.
They missed the guests of the past few days, these three, as they sat down to dinner in the dining room. They missed Sir Josiah, they missed noisy genial Mr. Coombe, even they missed his lordship, for on these three a silence had fallen and each was busy with his own thoughts.
To-night Betty would tell him, thought Allan, she would tell him that she had decided to be, as he had said, sensible and wise.
"To-night," Kathleen thought, "to-night she would tell him all."
And Scarsdale's thoughts were the same. Would she come to him if she might come in honour, if the dishonour fell on other shoulders? He believed it and hoped it and would hope it till the last.
Kathleen watched Allan that evening, watched him and saw the worried anxious look on his face. She knew that he was planning to meet Betty, yet surely never a lover went to meet his love with such a look on his face as Allan's wore this night? No, he did not love her, he was anxious and troubled about her, about the girl herself and her future and presently he should know that all was well, that Betty was gone and would be happy and cared for.