Part 5 (1/2)
”Don't be very long,” said her mother.
”I'll--I'll--see,” Rachel said, and she suddenly bent over her mother and kissed her, then went quickly out by one door as the other was thrown open to admit a visitor.
CHAPTER V
Francis Rendel came into the room with his usual air of ceremony, amounting almost to stiffness. Then, as he realised that his hostess was alone, his face lighted up and he came eagerly towards her.
”This _is_ a piece of good fortune, to find you alone,” he said. ”I was afraid I should find you surrounded.”
”It is early yet,” Lady Gore said, with a smile.
”I know, yes,” Rendel said. ”I must apologise for coming at this time, but I wanted very much to see you----” He paused.
”I am delighted to see you at any time,” Lady Gore said.
”It is so good of you,” he answered, in the tone of one who is thinking of the next thing he is going to say. There was a silence.
”I hope you enjoyed yourself at Maidenhead?” said Lady Gore.
”Very, very much,” Rendel answered with an air of penetrated conviction.
There was another pause. Then he suddenly said, ”Lady Gore----” and stopped.
She waited a moment, then said gently, ”Yes, I know. Rachel has been telling me.”
”She has! Oh, I am so glad,” Rendel said. Then he added, finding apparently an extreme difficulty in speaking at all, ”And--and--do you mind?”
”That is a modest way of putting it,” said Lady Gore, smiling. ”No, I don't mind. I am glad.”
”Are you really?” said Rendel, looking as if his life depended on the answer. ”Do you mean that you really think you--you--could be on my side? Then it will come all right.”
”I will be on your side, certainly,” said Lady Gore; ”but I don't know that that is the essential thing. I am not, after all, the person whose consent matters most.”
”Do you know, I believe you are,” Rendel said. ”I verily believe that at this moment you come before any one else in the world.” There was no need to say in whose estimation, or to mention Rachel's name.
”Well, perhaps at this moment, as you say,” said Lady Gore, ”it is possible, but there is no reason why it should go on always.”
”She is absolutely devoted to you,” Rendel said.
”Rachel has a fund,” her mother said, ”of loyal devotion, of unswerving affection, which makes her a very precious possession.”
”I have seen it,” said Rendel. ”Her devotion to you and her father is one of the most beautiful things in the world, even though....”
”Even...?” said Lady Gore, with a smile.
”Did she tell you what she said to me this morning?”
”I gathered, yes,” Lady Gore replied, ”both what you had said and her answer.”