‘Unless the cause is that he is unhappy because he has been doing wrong.’
Gilbert repressed a smile.
‘I am afraid I cannot comfort you by confirming that theory of yours. By “doing wrong,” I suppose you mean his little escapade at the concert the other night. Yes, I see. Well, I imagine he has forgotten all about that by now. He is angry, or “unhappy,” if you like, because he has been, and is being, put to great inconvenience, and he doesn’t like it; it makes him uncomfortable.’
Then he told her about the quarrel between Otho and Roger, with a sort of amused carelessness, as if he had been diverted by the combat, and somewhat contemptuous of the combatants, which tone puzzled and did not reassure his hearer.
‘Otho does not like office work,’ he went on, smiling openly. ‘He has not had much of it yet; but the factories reopen to-morrow, after the holiday, and then he will have to try a little of it. I have telegraphed to a man whom I know to send down some one suitable, and I have promised Otho to wait until the some one comes, and just to put him in the way of business; but it may be a week or so before my friend can hit upon the right kind of man. That makes him very angry——’
‘You don’t seem to think anything of the way in which he has behaved,’ burst forth Eleanor, indignantly, the colour high in her cheeks. ‘I think it is the most abominable thing I ever heard of—his treating Mr. Camm in that way. It is—it is——’
Words failed her. She felt as if she would choke with anger and disgust. Gilbert’s eyes were fixed upon her face; the slight smile was still hovering about his lips.
‘You talk about what makes him angry, as if it mattered. He deserves to be put to inconvenience. He does not deserve to be helped out of it. What becomes of Mr. Camm?’
‘Oh, I have seen Roger. We understand each other. But don’t you want to hear all that I have to tell you? I have another piece of news.’
‘What is it?’ she asked, feeling from the way in which he spoke that it must be news of some importance, and staying her anger to hear it.