Vermont listened and sympathised,
and stabbed afresh, with his artful accounts of Lady Constance's anger
at the fancied slight. He was altogether delighted at the way in which
things had turned out, though he did not know how Fortune had aided him
still more at Waterloo Station.
On the following morning Leroy received a cypher note from Lady
Merivale, saying that she had arrived home safely, and unnoticed; and,
with a sigh of relief, he turned his attention to his own affairs. To
Jasper's supreme annoyance, he insisted on going through a pile of
papers which Vermont had only meant him to sign; and to that gentleman's
chagrin he actually dared to interfere in the matter of rents and
leases; which proceeding, naturally, did not tend to make Jasper feel
the more kindly disposed to the world in general, and Adrien Leroy in
particular.
When he had taken his departure, Adrien ordered the motor, and drove
down to Barminster with the intention of offering an apology for his
seeming discourtesy. He found all in confusion and excitement in view of
the coming ball; and, whether by accident or design, he found it
impossible to get a single word with Constance alone.
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