He shrugged his shoulders expressively.
“But if Weiss must suffer with Gaunt, it is unfortunate; but I shouldn’t consider the chief rabbi himself if it would interfere with my attack on Gaunt. I shall await your report with much interest. Good-afternoon.”
And the Baron took from a silver box on the table a cigarette which he carefully lighted. Then he drew a deep breath.
“Now I think we are coming to close quarters, and we shall see a pretty fight—but——”
The Baron’s face became moody.
CHAPTER XXIV
If John Gaunt had deliberately planned to fan his wife’s dawning love into a fierce flame, he could not have acted in a manner more calculated to bring this about, for when Lady Mildred saw that he was deliberately avoiding every opportunity of intimate conversation, she became utterly miserable, although she had led him to believe that this was what she herself desired.
It was strange to her, this feeling of interest in her husband, and all day she found herself wondering what he was doing. At first she did not regret the attitude which she had taken up, but slowly it was being revealed to her that all other considerations were as nought when compared with love. With this realization there came a feeling of timidity which restrained her impulse to go to Gaunt and tell him what was in her heart.
What mattered his actions, however strange—what mattered his damaged reputation, so long as he loved her with the deep passion of which she had been permitted to catch a faint glimpse. She would force herself to forget the many mysterious things which surrounded her, and would only remember that he was her husband, and father of the child that she was rapidly growing to worship.
Of one thing she was convinced, that there was nothing mean in Gaunt’s nature. If he had been guilty of conduct which he was endeavoring to hide, and which was preying on his mind, it was nothing of which he need feel ashamed; and thus it will be seen that Lady Mildred did not yet understand the nature of the man that she had married.