“I did not know it,” said Gerald, with concern and surprise. “Indeed, I don’t think Sydney does.”
“Does she not?” exclaimed Roma. “Eugenia must have concealed it then. A mistake, I think. Those things always lead to misapprehension. But she is really much better now. Shall I go and tell her? She had a headache to-day, that was why she didn’t want to see any one. There is not much time to spare. When did you say you must leave?”
“The best train leaves Chilworth at six; the next at 7:30,” he replied.
“Well, I must tell her at once, then,” said Roma. “I am leaving here myself at five. I have only been here two days, on my way, or rather out of my way, north. I spend to-night at Stebbing with some friends who happen to be going north too, to-morrow.”
“You should have come by Wareborough again,” suggested Gerald. “I am sure Mrs Dalrymple would have been delighted to see you.”
“Next time, perhaps,” answered Roma. Then she added, with a smile, “I am quite getting to like Wareborough—or, at least, some of the people in it—though I used to think it such a dreadful place.”
Suddenly something in her own words made her blush and feel ashamed of herself. “I must go to Eugenia,” she said, hastily, leaving the room rather abruptly as she spoke.
“I wonder what there is about that Mr Thurston that always makes me behave in his presence like an underbred schoolgirl?” she thought to herself, as she went upstairs.
Barely five minutes—certainly not ten—had passed when the door of the room where Gerald was waiting opened, and Eugenia herself appeared. He had turned, expecting to see Roma again; a slight constraint was immediately perceptible in his manner when he saw who the new-comer was. The last time he had seen her had been on her marriage day. At first sight he hardly thought her much altered. She did not look ill, for the excitement of Roma’s news, the eagerness to hear more, had brought a bright colour to her cheeks. When it faded again he saw how pale she really was.
“Oh, Gerald!” she exclaimed, with all her old winning impulsiveness, “how good of you to come! How very good of you t Of course I shall go back with you at once. And Roma tells me there is no actual cause for more anxiety? You are sure of that, are you not, Gerald?”