Mr. Gascoyne looked astonished, and gave me a side-long glance.
“Indeed? Don’t you think, my dear, we are a little premature?”
“There is no harm in discussing it.”
In a few minutes Mr. Hibbert-Wyllie and Miss Gascoyne came in.
I had never met Mr. Hibbert-Wyllie anywhere except at the Gascoynes’. He had all the unfailing and general courtesy of the absolutely exclusive. He was not a man who, as far as I could gather, went out much, but he entertained Royalty a good deal, having some of the finest shooting in England.
Of his manner to me I had certainly no reason to complain, but I think he was a little astonished when Mr. Gascoyne very pointedly introduced me as a cousin. I suppose my Semitic appearance had hardly prepared him for the news. Since, however, I was a relation he could not doubt my general authenticity.
Personally I would much sooner Mr. Gascoyne had not been so ready to insist on my being of Gascoyne blood.
I walked home wondering whether after all Mrs. Gascoyne was not mistaken.
I had studied Miss Gascoyne very carefully, and I could not detect any indications that she was likely to capitulate to Mr. Hibbert-Wyllie. At the same time, she was outwardly an impassive woman, and appearances might be deceptive.
I admired and desired her even beyond Sibella, certainly beyond Sibella now that I was sure of the latter. I was not in the least conscious of any absurdity in arranging my affections so as to dovetail with my love for two women. Even theoretical polygamy comes quite naturally to me, for all Jews are polygamists at heart, even if as a nation they find it convenient to disown it. King Solomon, with his enormous female collection, remains their typical domestic character.