As soon as they reached their own sitting-room, where Mrs. Chessingham was waiting, devoured with curiosity, Ethel dissolved into tears of anger and disappointment.
“He has made a fool of me,” she sobbed, to Chessingham’s attempted consolation.
“Who is it that Mr. Romaine can’t make a fool of, when he tries?” asked Chessingham, grimly.
“I think,” said Mrs. Chessingham, who had much sound sense, “Mr. Romaine acts the fool himself. He has a plenty of money, fairly good health in spite of his imagination to the contrary, and a great deal to make him happy. Instead of that, he is about as dissatisfied an old creature as I ever knew.”
“Right,” answered Chessingham, “and, Ethel, I am not at all sure that you haven’t made a lucky miss.”
“That may be,” said Ethel, drying her eyes, “but all the same, everybody expected him to offer himself to me. When we left England it was considered, you remember, by all the people we knew, that it was as good as an engagement. And now—to have to go back—” here Ethel could say no more.
“And Letty Corbin—who, I believe, really dislikes him,” said Mrs. Chessingham.
“Don’t be too sure about Letty,” remarked Chessingham. “It’s just as likely as not that he will make another will to-morrow. All this may be simply to enliven the dulness of the country, and to give Ethel warning that she is wasting her time. You notice, he exacted no promise of us—he probably wants us to tell this at Corbin Hall. I sha’n’t oblige him, for one.”
“Nor I,” added Ethel. “And one thing is certain, I shall go back to England. I am missing all my winter visits by staying here, and I may not be able to make a good arrangement for the season in town—so I think I shall go.”
Both Chessingham and his wife thought this a judicious thing. Ethel was twenty-seven and had no time to lose, and she was clearly wasting it buried in the country—or rather in the wilderness, as she considered it. And, besides, the Chessinghams were fully convinced that Mr. Romaine would not stay long at Shrewsbury. It was a mere freak in the beginning, and they already detected signs of boredom in him.