Page:Bridefrombush00horn.pdf/116

110 'Pretty well. No; not altogether, I think.'

'Didn't care about going again, eh?'

'No; but that was because he knocked up when we got back.'

The conversation had become entirely confidential between the two. Lady Lettice was out of it, and looked as though she were glad of that, though in reality she was listening with quite a fierce interest. Others were listening too, and not a few were watching the Bride with a thorough fascination: the good humour and high spirits with which she was now brimming over enhanced her beauty to a remarkable degree.

'What was it that knocked him up?' inquired Granville softly, but in distinct tones.

She smiled at him. 'Never you mind!'

'But I am interested.' He looked it.

She smiled at him again, not dreaming that any other eye was upon her; then she raised her champagne glass two inches from the table and set it down again; and her smile broadened, as though it were the best joke in the world.

The refined tale was told. The action was understood by all who had listened to what went before.

The Judge was one of those who both