She did not expect the rejoinder, and dropped her knife and fork. "Why did you marry her?"
"Perhaps you can tell that better than I."
The countess-dowager pushed up her hair.
"Are you going to throw off the mask outright, and become a bad husband as well as a neglectful one?"
Val rose from his seat and went to the window, which opened to the ground. He did not wish to quarrel with her if he could help it. Lady Kirton raised her voice.
"Staying away, as you have, in London, and leaving Maude here to pine alone."
"Business kept me in London."
"I dare say it did!" cried the wrathful dowager. "If Maude died of ennui, you wouldn't care. She can't go about much herself just now, poor thing! I do wish Edward had lived."
"I wish he had, with all my heart!" came the answer; and the tone struck surprise on the dowager's ear—it was so full of pain. "Maude's coming to Hartledon without me was her own doing," he remarked. "I wished her not to come."
"I dare say you did, as her heart was set upon it. The fact of her wishing to do a thing would be the signal for your opposing it; I've gathered that much. My advice to Maude is, to assert her own will, irrespective of yours."