“Yes, very much. She interests me.”
“Ah?”
She looked at him, and seemed about to say something, but did not speak.
“You saw her take my hand,” he said, moved by a sudden impulse.
“Did she?”
“We were talking about Stamboul. She did it to show me——” He broke off. “I saw you felt, as I did, that no one but a through and through innocent woman could have done it, just now—like that, I mean.”
“Of course Cynthia is innocent,” Mrs. Chetwinde said, rather coldly and very firmly. “There’s Canon Wilton waiting for you.”
She turned away, but did not go back to the tea-table; as Dion went out of the room he saw her sitting down on the red sofa by Mrs. Clarke.
Canon Wilton and he walked slowly away from the house. The Canon, who had some heart trouble of which he never spoke, was not allowed to walk fast; and to-day he was tired after his sermon at the Abbey. He inquired earnestly about Rosamund and the child, and seemed made happy by the good news Dion was able to give him.
“Has it made all life seem very different to you?” he asked.