At first she had put only Viola. Then she added the second word. Viola alone suggested an intimacy which no longer existed between her and the man she had married.
The next day Lord Holme crossed the Channel. She was left with the servants.
Till then she had not been out of the house, but two days afterwards, swathed in a thick veil, she went for a drive in the Park, and on returning from it found Sir Donald on the door-step. He looked frailer than ever and very old. Lady Holme would have preferred to avoid him. Since that interview with her husband the idea of meeting anyone she knew terrified her. But he came at once to help her out of the carriage. Her face was invisible, but he knew her, and he greeted her in a rather shaky voice. She could see that he was deeply moved, and thanked him for his many inquiries.
“But why are you still in London?” she said.
“You are still in London,” he replied.
She was about to say good-bye on the door-step; but he kept her hand in his and said:
“Let me come in and speak to you for a moment.”
“Very well,” she said.
When they were in the drawing-room she still kept the veil over her face, and remained standing.
“Sir Donald,” she said, “you cared for me, I know; you were fond of me.”