Page:Cerise, a tale of the last century (IA cerisetaleoflast00whytrich).pdf/470

 husband towards Cerise—of a hearty, unsuspicious friend towards St. Croix.

And the latter was miserable, utterly and confessedly miserable! Every caress lavished on her husband by the wife, was a shaft that pierced him to the marrow. Every kind word addressed by the latter to himself, steeped that shaft in venom, and sent the evil curdling through his blood.

"Penance," he murmured inwardly. "They talk of penance—of punishment for sin—of purgatory—of hell! Why, this is hell! I am in hell already!"

The arrival of Sir Marmaduke, therefore, with his broad brown face, his old-fashioned dress, and his ungainly manners, was felt as a relief to the whole party; and, probably, not one of them separately would have given him half so gratifying a reception as was now accorded him by all three.

Nevertheless, his greeting to Lady Hamilton was so ludicrous in its ceremonious awkwardness, that she could scarcely repress a laugh. Catching Florian's eye, she did, indeed, indulge in a smile, which she hoped might be unobserved. So it was by Sir Marmaduke, whose faculties were completely absorbed in his bow; but her husband noted the glance of intelligence exchanged, and scored it up as an additional proof against the pair.

"Good-morrow, Sir George," continued the new arrival, completing his salutations, as he flattered himself, in the newest mode; "and to you sir," he added, turning rather sternly upon Florian, whom he was even then mentally committing, under a magistrate's warrant, to take his trial for high treason. "I made shift to ride over thus early in order to be sure of finding my host before he went abroad. Harbouring our stag, as we say, my lady, before he rouses; for if I had come across his blemish in the rack as I rode up the park, it would have been a disappointment to myself, and a disgrace to my reputation as a woodsman."

Cerise did not in the least understand, but she bowed her pretty head and answered—

"Yes, of course—clearly—so it would."

"Therefore," continued Sir Marmaduke, somewhat inconsequently, for the sweet foreign accent rang in his ears and heated his brain, as if he had been a younger man.