“Dear old man!” said Rosamund, when she and Dion were outside in the passage. “To say all that before nurse—it was truly generous.”
And she frankly wiped her eyes. A moment later she added:
“I pray he doesn’t fall back into his little failing!”
She looked at Dion interrogatively. He looked at her, understanding, he believed, the inquiry in her eyes. Before he could say anything the kind and careful voice of Mr. Darlington was heard below, asking:
“Is Mrs. Dion Leith at home?”
Mr. Darlington was delighted with Little Cloisters. He said it had a “flavor which was quite unique,” and was so enthusiastic that Rosamund became almost excited. Dion saw that she counted Mr. Darlington as an ally. When Mr. Darlington’s praises sounded she could not refrain from glancing at her husband, and when at length their guests got up to go “with great reluctance,” she begged them to come and dine on the following night.
Mr. Darlington raised his ragged eyebrows and looked at Canon Wilton.
“I’m by way of going back to town to-morrow afternoon,” he began tentatively.
“Stay another night and let us accept,” said Canon Wilton heartily.
“But I’m dining with dear Lavinia Berkhamstead, one of my oldest friends. It’s not a set dinner, but I should hardly like—”