"Mother, I have come to tell you that I cannot accompany you to-morrow evening," he said. "You must please excuse me."
"Why so?" asked Lady Verner.
"I would so very much rather not go," he answered. "Besides, I do not care to leave Sibylla."
Lady Verner made no observation for a few moments. A carious smile, almost a pitying smile, was hovering on her lips.
"Lionel, you are a model husband. Your father was not a bad one, as husbands go; but—he would not have bent his neck to such treatment from me, as you take from Mrs. Verner."
"No?" returned Lionel, with good humour.
"It is not right of you, Lionel, to leave me to go alone, with only Decima."
"Let Jan accompany you, mother."
"Jan!" uttered Lady Verner, in the very extreme of astonishment. "I should be surprised to see Jan attempt to enter such a scene. Jan! I don't suppose he possesses a fit coat and waistcoat."
Lionel smiled, quitted his mother, and bent his steps towards Jan Verner's.