She handed him his newspaper; he took it without a word, went and stood on the hearthrug, and flung the paper on the floor.
‘Christine, what’s the meaning of this terrible story? I was just on my way to look at the register.’
She looked at him without speech.
‘You have married—Nicholas Long?’
‘No, father.’
‘No? Can you say no in the face of such facts as I have been put in possession of?’
‘Yes.’
‘But—the note you wrote to the rector—and the going to church?’
She briefly explained that their attempt had failed.
‘Ah! Then this is what that dancing meant, was it? By ---, it makes me ---. How long has this been going on, may I ask?’