“Own it at once!” she broke out, provoked beyond endurance; “though I may be willing to trust you—you are afraid to trust yourself.”
Unlucky Mrs. Presty interfered again. “Don’t listen to her, Herbert. Keep out of harm’s way, and you keep right.”
She patted him on the shoulder, as if she had been giving good advice to a boy. He expressed his sense of his mother-in-law’s friendly offices in language which astonished her.
“Hold your tongue!”
“Do you hear that?” Mrs. Presty asked, appealing indignantly to her daughter.
Linley took his hat. “At what time do you expect Miss Westerfield to arrive?” he said to his wife.
She looked at the clock on the mantelpiece. “Before the half-hour strikes. Don’t be alarmed,” she added, with an air of ironical sympathy; “you will have time to make your escape.”
He advanced to the door, and looked at her.
“One thing I beg you will remember,” he said. “Every half-hour while I am away (I am going to the farm) you are to send and let me know how Kitty is—and especially if Miss Westerfield justifies the experiment which the doctor has advised us to try.”
Having given those instructions he went out.