Page:The Fruit of the Tree (Wharton 1907).djvu/286

Rh “It doesn’t matter—of course I’ll do whatever you wish,” she went on listlessly. “But I could have sent my signature, if that is all you came for"

“Thanks,” said Amherst coldly. “I shall remember that the next time.”

They stood silent for a moment, he with his eyes ﬁxed on her, she with averted head, twisting her riding-whip between her ﬁngers; then she said suddenly: “We shall be late for dinner,” and passing into her dressing-room she closed the door.

Amherst roused himself as she disappeared.

“Bessy!” he exclaimed, moving toward her; but as he approached the door he heard her maid’s voice within, and turning away he went to his own room.

Bessy came down late to dinner, with vivid cheeks and an air of improvised ease; and the manner of her entrance, combined with her husband’s unannounced arrival, produced in their observant guests the sense of latent complications. Mr. Langhope, though evidently unaware of his son-in-law’s return till they greeted each other in the drawing-room, was too good a card-player to betray surprise, and Mrs. Ansell outdid herself in the delicate art of taking everything for granted; but these very dissimulations sharpened the perception of the other guests, whom long practice had rendered expert in interpreting such signs. [ 270 ]