Page:The Other House (London, William Heinemann, 1896), Volume 2.djvu/47

Rh was written in the smile of determined good humour with which he met the asperity of her successive inquiries; but his own uneasiness, which was not the best thing in the world for his temper, showed through this superficial glitter. He looked suddenly as blank as a man can look who looks annoyed. "How in the world could I have supposed I was making it less?"

Mrs. Beever faltered in her turn. "To answer that question I should need to have been present at your appeal."

Tony's eyes put forth a fire. "It seems to me that your answer, as it is, will do very well for a charge of disloyalty. Do you imply that I didn't act in good faith?"

"Not even in my sore disappointment. But I imply that you made a gross mistake."

Tony lifted his shoulders; with his hands in his pockets he had begun to fidget about the lawn—bringing back to her as he did so the worried figure that, in the same attitude, the day of poor Julia's death, she had seen pace the hall at the other house. "But what the deuce then was I to do?"

"You were to let her alone."