"It really was. There were moments, I must confess, in which I should have been relieved if the present exhibition at the Crystal Palace had been of a somewhat different nature. However, nothing of that kind happened, I am thankful to say."
Mrs. Verulam assented, and he continued softly:
"And, indeed, Lady Sophia's name won the day. That I may tell you at once. But having indulged the former of his two passions, Mr. Lite became suddenly the slave—to some extent, only to some extent—of the latter. And this is what I wish to consult you about."
"Yes."
"He will, with his devoted wife—'the wife,' as he somewhat exclusively calls her; he has no family—turn out of 'the home' for the space of six clear days, Monday to Saturday inclusive; but he cannot bring himself to leave the neighbourhood or to allow a strange staff of servants to intrude into Ribton Marches. Therefore he makes, or wishes to make, these conditions: that you retain his servants—there are plenty of them, I may tell you—to wait upon your party, and that you permit him and 'the wife' to lodge for the week in a small fishing-cottage that stands at the edge of a piece of artificial water beyond the small pine-wood at the outskirts of the grounds."
"Oh, Mr. Rodney, but——"
"He promises that they will regard the grounds as yours, and that under no circumstances whatever will they emerge from the seclusion of the fishing-cottage."
Mrs. Verulam brightened up.
"Oh, under those conditions I have no objection. But it would be very unpleasant to have a man of violent temper prowling about and spying upon what my guests were doing in his garden or conservatories."