He bent forward to her as he spoke, his blue eyes all candour and mirth.
Marcella started.
"How can he?" she said abruptly. "I am not a Conservative."
"Not a Conservative?" he said joyously. "Oh! but impossible! Does that mean that you ever read my poor little speeches?"
He pointed to the local newspaper, freshly cut, which lay on a table at
Marcella's elbow.
"Sometimes—" said Marcella, embarrassed. "There is so little time."
In truth she had hardly given his candidature a thought since the day Aldous proposed to her. She had been far too much taken up with her own prospects, with Lady Winterbourne's friendship, and her village schemes.
He laughed.
"Of course there is. When is the great event to be?"
"I didn't mean that," said Marcella, stiffly. "Lady Winterbourne and I have been trying to start some village workshops. We have been working and talking, and writing, morning, noon, and night."