Richmond, who was chatting with Miss Reid and Miss Harper, started, and a faint tinge of color shone on his cheek.
"When is she coming down?" asked Mrs. Wildair.
"My dear aunt, Mrs. Georgia, for some reason of her own, saw fit to answer none of my questions. She closed the door in my face by way of reply."
Richmond began talking rapidly, and with so much empressement, to his two companions that languid Miss Reid lifted her large sleepy-looking eyes in faint wonder, and a malicious smile curled the lips of Miss Harper.
A sleighing party was to be the order of the day, and, after breakfast, the ladies hurried to their rooms to don their furs and cloaks; and Richmond, seizing the first opportunity, hurried to Georgia's room and knocked loudly and authoritatively at the door.
It did not open; all was silent within.
"Georgia, open the door, I command you!" he said, in a voice of suppressed passion. "Open the door this instant; I insist."
It opened slowly, and he saw the collapsed and haggard face of his wife, but he was too deeply angry to heed or care for her looks at that moment. Entering the room, he closed the door, and with a light in his eyes and a look in his face that, with all his anger, he had never worn hitherto, he confronted her.
"Madam, what did you mean by your conduct to my cousin this morning?" he said, in a tone that he had never used to her before.
A spasm shot across her face, and she reeled as if she had received a blow.