A glance at Lord Dreever enlightened her. That miserable creature was wearing the air of a timid child about to pull a large cracker. He seemed to be bracing himself up for an explosion.
She pitied him sincerely. So he had not told his uncle the news yet! Of course, he had scarcely had time. Saunders must have given him the note as he was going up to dress.
However, there was no use in prolonging the agony. Sir Thomas must be told sooner or later. She was glad of the chance to tell him herself. She would be able to explain that it was all her doing.
“I’m afraid there’s a mistake,” she said.
“Eh?” said Sir Thomas.
“I’ve been thinking it over, and I came to the conclusion that we weren’t——Well, I broke off the engagement.”
Sir Thomas’s always prominent eyes protruded still farther. The colour of his florid face deepened. Suddenly he chuckled.
Molly looked at him amazed. Sir Thomas was indeed behaving unexpectedly to-night.
“I see it,” he wheezed. “You’re having a joke with me! So this is what you were hatching as I came downstairs! Don’t tell me! If you had really thrown him over you wouldn’t have been laughing together like that. It’s no good, my dear. I might have been taken in if I had not seen you, but I did.”
“No, no,” cried Molly. “You’re wrong—you’re quite wrong. When you saw us we were just agreeing that we should be very good friends—that was all. I broke off the engagement before that. I——”