"Yes, he'll never come back now; not that I want him to," Jimmy hastened to add, with one of those little inward qualms that shook him whenever he thought of his brother, and what that brother would say when he knew that he was shortly to be asked to accept Cynthia Farrow as a sister-in-law.
The great Horatio, as Jimmy disrespectfully called the head of his family, loathed the stage. It was his one dread that some day the blueness of his blood might run the risk of taint by being even remotely connected with one of its members.
"He's not married, of course?" Mrs. Wyatt asked.
Challoner chuckled. "Married! Good Lord, no!" He leaned a little forward to look at Christine.
"And you?" he asked. "Has the perfect man come along yet?"
It had been an old joke of his in the far away days, that Christine would never marry until she found a perfect man. She had always had such quaintly romantic fancies behind the seriousness of her beautiful brown eyes.
She flushed now, shaking her head. "And you?" she asked. "Are you married?"
Challoner said "No" very quickly. He wondered whether he ought to tell them about Cynthia. The thought reminded him of his promise to go to her after the first act. He rose hastily to his feet.
"I quite forgot. I've got an appointment. If you'll excuse me, I'll come back, if I may."
He bowed himself off. Christine's beautiful eyes followed him wistfully.