My lord finished his wine and leant forward across the table, supporting his head by a hand thrust into his pomaded hair. The splendid dress he wore and his bright ornaments glimmered softly in contrast with his lifeless face. Presently the hush was rudely disturbed by the rumble of the market carts coming in to Covent Garden—the sound of the wheels over the cobbles, the clatter of the harness.
Lord Lyndwood rose and stepped to the window. Slowly he set it open and looked out. A waggon laden with country flowers was going past, and the clear early air was fresh with the perfume of the masses of blooms that lay close pressed in the wicker baskets. My lord watched these carts go by until the sun was above the chimney-pots and shining down the narrow street.
CHAPTER VI
MARIUS ENTANGLED
"Where is Rose?" asked Miss Chressham anxiously.
"Ye are very impatient to find him," answered Marius. "And how may we know him in this throng?"
They stepped aside into an alcove set with card-tables, and Susannah gazed away from her companion and down the crowded ballroom.
"We came here to find him," she answered. "I told you that, Marius, when I desired you to bring me. You know that I must see him—that I endeavoured to gain speech with him last night. To-day——"