“I will come and try,” said Jack.
“Of course you will!” replied the rector, with a flash of his old manner. “I shall be glad if you will remind him of his promise, Miss Bonamy.”
Kate murmured that she would.
“You like your house?” said Jack.
“Oh, very much—very much indeed.”
“It is an improvement on No. 383?” continued the barrister, rather drily.
“It is—very much so!”
The words were natural. They were the words Jack would have expected. But, unfortunately, Gregg at that moment passed the rector’s elbow, and the latter’s manner was cold and shy—almost as if he resented the reference to his old life. Jack thought he did, and his lip curled. Fortunately, Daintry again intervened. “Here is Miss Hammond,” she said. “She is looking for you, Mr. Lindo.”
The rector turned as Laura, threading her way through the press, came smiling toward him. She glanced with some curiosity at Jack, and then nodded graciously to Kate, whom she knew at the Sunday school and from meeting her on such occasions as this. “How do you do, Miss Bonamy?” she said pleasantly. “Will you pardon me carrying off the rector? We want him to come to tea.”
Kate bowed, and the rector took off his hat to the girls. Then he waved an awkward farewell toward Jack, muttered “See you soon!” and went off with his captor.