"What man?"
"Chalmers Warriner, of course."
"Chalmers Warriner! Why——" Betty bit her lip and choked back the coming words.
"Go on!" I demanded, instantly alert to the possible significance of that suddenly checked utterance.
But Betty only shook her head—mutinously so as I chose to think in my green-eyed madness.
"You won't tell me?" I persisted hotly.
"I can't."
"Then I've nothing more to say except just this: You are my wife, and so long as you continue to bear my name you are to have no communication of any kind with Mr. Warriner."
Betty made no reply, and we parted without another word.
I had to be in Calverton all the following day on some law business; and I had left the "Hundred" before Betty appeared at the breakfast table. When I returned, late in the afternoon, the house was fairly upside down with hurried preparations for a departure; everywhere trunks and handbags were being packed for the journey, and the station car was already in waiting at the front door. Betty met me as usual in the lower hall. I lifted my eyebrows interrogatively.