“He’s spoilt my afternoon,” she said angrily to herself as the car sped homewards. “He’s spoilt my afternoon. And he is only a dreamer. He has no right to judge me.”
But Colin Paton was not the judge.
CHAPTER IX
“MELTON GREEN”
“She’s so keen on your coming,” urged Jack. “She’s taken a tremendous fancy to you. And, you know, she’s such a kid. She’s no end proud of her turn. You must come and see her.”
“You are aware that my august husband will be very displeased should he hear of it,” returned Claudia dryly.
“Oh! blow Gilbert and his airs! I can’t think how you came to marry such a sack of sawdust. I met him yesterday and he was as frigid as a frozen leg of mutton.... What’s it got to do with him whom I marry?”
A good constitution will stand a great deal, and, contrary to expectations, Gilbert had not had to return ignominiously to bed after his rash defiance of the doctor’s orders. But he had never recovered, and Claudia saw that he was not half the man he had been. But he would not admit that he felt ill, and his secret feelings only showed themselves in great irritability and an almost total ignoring of her presence.
“If people minded their own business,” said Claudia lightly, “this world would be a dull place! It’s family friction that keeps us all alive!”