Barnaby took a long breath. She felt his grip relax.
"You are a good girl," he said. "You wouldn't break your promise. I suppose I've no right to order you:—I'll find him out for myself. Tell me one thing, and we'll let it go—"
She waited. There had been something very bitter to her in his relief. All he asked of her was to keep the secret until he was tired of the joke....
"Susan," he said. "Did you want to tell him?"
What did that matter to him? Supposing she had—wanted? Supposing she would have given worlds to exchange her difficult post for one so different, so secure?—Her cheek burned.
"I would sooner have died," she said.
*****
Rackham stood under the gallery in a black mood, watching the Duchess send her messenger to hunt out the missing husband. He saw Julia, bereft of her cavalier, pausing uncertainly; and a satiric impulse moved him to join her.
"Come and have supper with me," he said.
"I am engaged to Barnaby," she said, a little defiantly.