Part 16 (2/2)
Suddenly she bent over and laid a gloved hand on his arm.
”Hadn't it?” she said, in a low voice.
He started. But he neither looked at her nor shook her off.
”What--the house?” was the ungracious reply. ”I'm sure I don't know; I never thought about it--whether it was pretty or ugly, I mean. It suited us, and it amused mother to fiddle about with it.”
Mrs. Fairmile withdrew her hand.
”Of course a great deal of it was ugly,” she said composedly. ”Dear Lady Barnes really didn't know. But then we led such a jolly life in it--_we_ made it!”
She looked at him brightly, only to see in him an angry flash of expression. He turned and faced her.
”I'm glad you think it was jolly. My remembrances are not quite so pleasant.”
She laughed a little--not flinching at all--her face rosy to his challenge.
”Oh, yes, they are--or should be. What's the use of blackening the past because it couldn't be the present. My dear Roger, if I hadn't--well, let's talk plainly!--if I hadn't thrown you over, where would you be now? We should be living in West Kensington, and I should be taking boarders--or--no!--a country-house, perhaps, with paying guests. You would be teaching the c.o.c.kney idea how to shoot, at half a guinea a day, and I should be buying my clothes second-hand through the _Exchange and Mart_. Whereas--whereas----”
She bent forward again.
”You are a very rich man--you have a charming wife--a dear little girl--you can get into Parliament--travel, speculate, race, anything you please. And I did it all!”
”I don't agree with you,” he said drily. She laughed again.
”Well, we can't argue it--can we? I only wanted to point out to you the plain, bare truth, that there is nothing in the world to prevent our being excellent friends again--_now_. But first--and once more--_my letters!_”
Her tone was a little peremptory, and Roger's face clouded.
”I found two of them last night, by the merest chance--in an old dispatch-box I took to America. They were posted to you on the way here.”
”Good! But there were three.”
”I know--so you said. I could only find two.”
”Was the particular letter I mentioned one of them?”
He answered unwillingly.
”No. I searched everywhere. I don't believe I have it.”
She shook her head with decision.
”You certainly have it. Please look again.”
He broke out with some irritation, insisting that if it had not been returned it had been either lost or destroyed. It could matter to no one.
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