"You'll come back with us, won't you?"
Marsham flushed. "I have only just arrived," he said, rather sharply. "Please don't wait for me.--Shall we go on?" he said, turning to Diana.
They walked on. As Diana paused at the iron gate which closed the long walk, she looked round her involuntarily, and saw that Alicia and Fanny were now standing on the lower terrace, gazing after them. It struck her as strange and rude, and she felt the slight shock she had felt several times already, both in her intercourse with Fanny and in her acquaintance with Miss Drake--as of one unceremoniously jostled or repulsed.
Marsham meanwhile was full of annoyance. That Alicia should still treat him in that domestic, possessive way--and in Diana's presence--was really intolerable. It must be stopped.
He paused on the other side of the gate.
"After all, I am not in a mood to see Robins to-day. Look!--the light is going. Will you show me the path on to the hill? You spoke to me once of a path you were fond of."
She tried to laugh.
"You take Robins for granted?"
"I am quite indifferent to his virtues--even his vices! This chance--is too precious. I have so much to say to you."
She led the way in silence. The hand which held up her dress from the mire trembled a little unseen. But her sense of the impending crisis had given her more rather than less dignity. She bore her dark head finely, with that unconscious long-descended instinct of the woman, waiting to be sued.