“Do you suppose I have forgotten it?” whispered she. “Shall I ever forget that sunny morning, and the roses, and—”
“Nay, forget it, madam,” said John, sternly. “I assure you the roses are dead.”
And then he went away and left her, and presently old Molly came, all in a flutter of wonder and delight.
“’Tis herself, sure,” she cried, peering into the beautiful pensive face of the visitor; “’tis Lady Lucy. Master come to me and says, says he, ‘Get tea ready, and everything of the best,’ he says, ‘A lady has come who must be well attended to’; but he didn’t never say it was your ladyship. Dear, my lady, what a merry company you was, to be sure. Do you mind how you all made your own beds. I’ll wager your ladyship has never made your bed since.”
“Yes, yes,” said Lady Lucy, “I have made my own bed, Molly, and I must lie on it.”
She sate very silent and thoughtful after this; but when refreshments were served, and John Cotley came to do the honours of his table, she became once more all smiles and gaiety, prattling very prettily about the great world and the folk who dwelt there, and running on from one topic to another without appearing to notice her host’s gravity and silence. All at once, turning to him with a challenging air, she said: “In this solitary retreat of yours, Mr Cotley, I presume the news of my doings and successes have not reached you?”
“Madam,” he returned, with an added shade of coldness in his tone, “I must own that I have failed to keep count of your triumphs.”
“Why, that is the less surprising since, according to my flatterers, my triumphs are past reckoning. Do you remember, sir;” and here, leaning her elbows on the table and resting her chin upon her hands, she darted a penetrating glance towards him—“do you remember, sir, a conversation which we once had at early dawn? I, at least, recollect it very well. Though you were unaware at the time of the career I had chosen, you made several curiously apt forecasts.”
“Madam,” returned John, “I regret to say that my memory is not as good as yours.”
She bit her lip, but soon recovered herself. Tilting back her head slightly, and looking at him through her narrowed lids, she continued—