“And you never tried to find out?”
“Yes, I asked my mother; but there was a prejudice in her mind against poor Fay. I would rather not talk about her, George.”
Her vivid blush, her evident confusion, perplexed her husband. There was some kind of mystery, it seemed—some family trouble in the background, or Mildred, who was all candour, would have spoken more freely.
“Then may I really invite Pamela?” he asked, after a brief silence, during which he had responded to the endearments of Kassandra, too well fed to have any design upon the dainties on the breakfast-table, and only asking to be loved.
“I will write to her myself, George. Where is she?”
“Not very far off. She is at Cowes with the Mountfords, on board Sir Henry’s yacht the Gadfly. You had better send your letter to the post-office, marked Gadfly.”
The invitation was despatched by the first post; Miss Greswold was asked to come to the Manor as soon as she liked, and to stay till the autumn.
The next day was Sunday, and Mr. and Mrs. Greswold went to church together by the path that led them within a few paces of Lola’s grave.
For the first time since her daughter’s death Mildred had put on a light gown. Till to-day she had worn only black. This morning she came into the vivid sunlight in a pale gray gown of soft lustreless silk, and a neat little gray straw bonnet, which set off the fairness of her skin and the sheen of her golden hair. The simple fashion of her gown became her tall, slim figure, which had lost none of the grace of girlhood. She was the prettiest and most distinguished-looking woman in Enderby Church, although there were more county families represented there upon that particular Sunday than are often to be seen in a village church.
The Manor House pew was on one side of the chancel, and commanded a full view of the nave. The first lesson was long, and while it was being read Mildred’s eyes wandered idly along the faces in the nave, recognising countenances that had been familiar to her ever since her marriage, until that wandering gaze stopped suddenly, arrested by a face that was strange.