Part 20 (1/2)
”Try again, of course. It ain't likely to happen twice. The sentry will think we have got a wager on, so there won't be any fuss.”
Charteris proved successful in the counting compet.i.tion, announcing his twenty while Gerrard had only reached seventeen. As he was dining with the Cinnamonds that night, the fates seemed to be propitious. But when Gerrard came back from supping with the James Antonys, he found his friend reclining on the verandah, in an att.i.tude suggestive of despondency.
”Sold again!” said a sepulchral voice from the recesses of the long chair.
”You don't mean that she has refused you, Bob?”
”Oh, don't I?” the voice suggested something more than sulkiness. ”If I don't, I'm very much mistaken. She told me that I wasn't what she expected, in a way that implied I was a very poor creature indeed. If that was acceptance, all I can say is, I hope you may be accepted too!”
CHAPTER XV.
MUTTERINGS OF THE STORM.
”Onora, my dearest little one, have you anything to tell me?” Unable to bear the suspense any longer, Lady Cinnamond had pursued her daughter to her room.
”No, mamma; only that he is gone.”
”But you have not sent him away?”
”I told him again that I could not marry him.”
”But I thought you cared for him!” Lady Cinnamond's regret was not unmixed with indignation. ”When you thought he was dead, you said----”
It was Honour's turn to be indignant. ”I said I couldn't tell, mamma.
And I don't like him as much now as I did when I thought he was dead.”
”These poor young men!” lamented her mother. ”Then is the unfortunate Mr Gerrard to be made happy at last? Or is it some one else?”
”It isn't any one!” cried Honour hotly. ”Is it my fault if they will want to marry me? I am sure I have made it clear to them over and over again that I don't want to marry anybody.”
”My child, that is a thing that nothing will make clear to a man,” said her mother solemnly--”especially when it is plain that you take pleasure in his society.”
”But I don't. Mamma, I never told you, but long ago, more than a year, I lent _Sintram_ to Mr Charteris, without telling him how fond I was of it. He gave it back to me all smelling of smoke, and said that he couldn't make head or tail of it, but it struck him as uncommon silly.”
”But, my dear, surely that ought to have warned you that your tastes were not congenial. What can have made you think your feelings had changed?”
”Oh, mamma, I don't know.” Honour paused for a moment, then hurried on. ”One doesn't remember that kind of thing when a person is dead, you know. And there seemed to be so many nice points about him that I had never guessed----”
”But which Mr Gerrard brought out? Well, your objection can't apply----” Lady Cinnamond broke off hastily. ”I won't worry you any more to-night, dear.”
”Good-night, mamma. I am sorry I was cross.”
Lady Cinnamond left her reluctantly, for the rest of the family were on the tiptoe of expectation to hear what had happened, and she had earnestly hoped to be able to silence their jeers with the announcement that Honour was engaged like other people.
”Well, mamma, is he coming to see papa in the morning?” demanded Mrs Cowper eagerly, as soon as her mother appeared.
”No, dear; I am sorry to say she has refused him again.”