There is no mistaking her start, and the pain and dissent in her tone.
“You had rather that I did not?”
CHAPTER XIII
“No bad news, I hope?”
“None, thanks.”
It is at the breakfast-table next morning that this question and answer are exchanged. They are the result of the wire which has just been handed to Lavinia, and which she continues looking at, long after she must have mastered its contents—so long that the hostess’s curiosity conquers her good breeding, and makes her take for granted sender and subject.
“Does Mr. Rupert say by what train he and Sir George are returning?”
There is a pause, though slightly perceptible.
“They cannot get back to-day; the papers were not ready for their signature, after all.”