“Oh, Walsh!” she wailed. “That hideous monster! What do you think he has asked me to do!”
“Well, not to elope with him; I’ll wager he didn’t propose that.”
“He asked me to go driving with him! He said there would be such sleighing to-morrow as we rarely see any more. He said he would show me the hills and that I’d see we had winter scenery here just as good as Vermont.”
She offered this, it seemed, as a last proof of Walsh’s depravity, and having launched it in half-sobs she waited for Wayne to mitigate its evil if he could. The laughter with which he greeted her announcement added an unneeded straw to her burden and she wept bitterly, bending her head upon the mantel-shelf. She was an effective study in grief, but Wayne’s humour had been too sincerely touched to leave any room for pity.
“Oh, Addie! Walsh asked you to drive with him! He asked you—he asked you——”
He exploded again, but when, tearful and scornful, she turned toward him, he subsided to demand:
“Well, what did you say?”
“Oh, I said I’d go! I was afraid to say no!”
CHAPTER XXI
SOUNDINGS IN DEEP WATERS
SHE left him abruptly and ran up to her room. He lighted a cigarette and pondered the rapid succession of events that had so filled the afternoon and evening. He tried to find a natural explanation for everything, but the effort left him vexed and confused. He had reasoned with Mrs. Craighill plausibly enough, but the appearance of Walsh and Wingfield had been extraordinary; it was wholly unaccountable, and he did not like it. That these men should be spying upon his actions passed belief; but what did this odd alliance between the men argue? He roamed the rooms restlessly. All was silent above. Under the same roof, here in his father’s house, were two women, unrelated and irreconcilable, pointing him to different paths. He flashed on the lights in the dining room and leaned in the doorway, gazing at the empty table and recalling the dinner hour. Jean Morley had sat there; the soft overhead light had fallen like a benediction on her head; her grave voice still sounded in his ears, her questioning eyes still spoke to him when, turning off the lights, he stood a moment staring into the dark.