Page:Between Two Loves.djvu/165

160 had first seen in all the pride and joyousness of her bridehood.

"I won't harm you, Geoffrey. I only want to see my husband—to see if there is any chance of him forgiving me."

"Now then, mistress, thou talks well. Go thy ways, and God bless thee!"

She walked rapidly through the park, and as she neared the house she saw that there were lights in the small dinner-parlor. The blinds were not drawn, but before the windows there was a clump of thick laurel-trees. It was Anthony's custom, when he dined alone, to smoke his cigar on the terrace before the drawing-room, and she meant to watch behind the shrubs until he came out. Then she could approach him unseen by the servants, and she thought that if Anthony was left without anything to consider but the forgiveness she meant to plead for, he would not turn her away.

Cautiously she advanced to the laurel-bushes, and peered through them into the room. Matthew Rhodes was sitting with Aske. They were smoking and talking with great earnestness. The table was covered with papers, and Eleanor observed her husband's face darken as