One by one, the others followed; and Lord Merivale, with an apology to
Leroy, returned to his study and the Agricultural Gazette, having his
wife and Adrien alone.
With flushed face and outstretched hands, she turned to him
reproachfully.
"I thought you had forgotten me."
"Impossible," he murmured, as he raised her hand to his lips. "I have
been so bothered with various business matters, and have had so many
engagements----"
"But yet had the time to go to the theatre with that awful creature,"
she retorted. "Then you have been spending a day or two at Barminster."
She bit her lip savagely in her jealous pain and wounded vanity.
"Adrien," she entreated, "tell me it isn't true."
"To what do you refer?" he asked steadily.
He knew that the struggle had commenced, and he was determined to bring
this mock phantasy of love to an end. If he could not marry the one
woman who had shown him what love really meant, he would at least have
done with this foolish dalliance.
"Your engagement to that pink-and-white cousin--Lady----"
"Be silent," he commanded, more sternly than he had ever spoken to any
man, woman or child in his life.
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