'Agreed about partridges!' repeated Mrs. Coles.
'Yes,' said Dane. 'You had better take some, Prudentia. Rosy,a little bit with some bread would not hurt you.'
'But the expense, Dane!'
'Yes. What about it?'
'The expense must be fearful of such a supperin such a house as this.'
'A man who wants his horse to do him good service never asks about the price of oats.'
'Dane!' said Mrs. Coles laughing and bridling, 'do you mean to compare your wife to your horse?'
Rollo was quite silent, long enough to have the silence marked. And when he spoke, it was not to Mrs. Coles, neither did he honour her by so much as a look, during the rest of her stay in the room. Primrose made the stay as short as she could, and Mrs. Coles who felt that she had lost her footing and did not know how to regain it, suffered herself to be carried away. But while Primrose got a kiss, she was dismissed by her host with a very ceremonious reverence. He had opened the door for the two and closed it behind them. Coming back he bent down to touch his lips to Wych Hazel's cheek.
'If you have any remarks to make, make them!' he said. 'I am defenceless, and at your mercy.'
But for once Wych Hazel was in a region of air quite beyond Mrs.
Coles. She looked up at him wistfully.