Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/188

Rh “No: now—at once. On a long honeymoon.”

He frowned slightly at the last word, passing it by to revert to the direct answer to his question.

“At once? No—I can’t see that the suggestion carries its explanation with it.”

Mrs. Ansell looked at him hesitatingly. She was conscious of the ill-chosen word that still reverberated between them, and the unwonted sense of having blundered made her, for the moment, less completely mistress of herself.

“Ah, you’ll see farther presently—’ She rose again. unfurling her lace sunshade, as if to give a touch of deﬁniteness to her action. “It’s not, after all,” she added, with a sweet frankness, “a case for argument, and still less for persuasion. My reasons are excellent—I should insist on putting them to you myself if they were not! But they’re so good that I can leave you to find them out—and to back them up with your own, which will probably be a great deal better.”

She summed up with a light nod, which included both Amherst and his mother, and turning to descend the verandah steps, waved a signal to Mr. Langhope, who was limping disconsolately toward the house.

“What has she been saying to you, mother?” Amherst asked, returning to his seat beside his mother

Mrs. Amherst replied by a shake of her head and a [ 172 ]