“I have flattered you by taking your opinion.”
“Oh, I don’t count in the matter. But I am sure you are wise, Beatrix. Another month will finish this business. Better for him to come home then with whole bones than now—to God knows what. And you—of course, you are leaving Strasburg?”
“Leaving Strasburg—why?”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“Because the Prussians are at Schiltigheim.”
“Is that all?”
He laughed—almost brutally, she thought.
“Not at all; it is only the beginning. In a month there will be no Strasburg to remain in. Forgive me if I am too frank. One seems able to talk to you as one talks to no one else. I suppose it’s because we’re both English, Beatrix.”
She thought that the confession was an indirect sneer at her husband; her cheeks crimsoned in resentment.