"How--how long did he wait?"
"Maybe twenty minutes, maybe half-an-hour; please, ma'am, I couldn't say exactly."
"And did he seem angry?"
"No, ma'am; quite pleasant. He gave me a shilling as he was going."
"A shilling! Oh! Now tell me, exactly, what was the message he left."
"If you please, ma'am, he told me to tell you exactly what he said, so I took particular notice." She repeated word for word what Mr. Morgan had said; Mrs. Nash listening with singular intentness, as if her attention was fixed not so much on the actual words as on what was behind them. When the girl had finished she sat still, as if pondering. Louisa roused her. "If you please, ma'am, can I lay for supper?"
Mrs. Nash rose with a little jump.
"Supper! of course; how silly I am! I was quite forgetting about supper. Certainly, Louisa, you can lay for supper; I--I think I'm quite ready for it." When she went into the bedroom her husband was still standing with his elbows on the mantelpiece and his face to the wall. As she entered he looked round with a start; the pair stood looking at each other as if each was taken aback by something which was on the other's face. She spoke first, in a voice which seemed to tremble. "Herbert, what--what's the matter?"
"The matter?" He laughed, a forced laugh. "Nothing's the matter; why do you ask what's the matter?"
"You're--you're looking so strange."