"As Lady Sumner Howden, I could look down upon the mistress of Raynham
Castle," she thought. "As Countess of Vandeluce, I should take
precedence of nobler women than Lady Eversleigh."
The day waned. The revellers lingered long over the splendid collation,
served in a marquee which had been sent from York for the occasion. The
banquet seemed a joyous one, enlivened by the sound of laughter, the
popping of champagne corks, the joyous talk that emanated alike from
the really light-hearted and those whose gaiety is only a mockery and a
sham. The sun was sloping westward when Lady Eversleigh arose, absent
and despondent, to give the signal for the withdrawal of the ladies.
As she did so, she looked to the other end of the marquee--to the table
where her husband had been seated. To her surprise, his place was
empty.
Throughout the whole day Honoria had been a prey to gloomy forebodings.
The estrangement between herself and her husband was so unexpected, so
inexplicable, that she was powerless to struggle against the sense of
misery and bewilderment which it had occasioned in her mind.
Again and again she asked herself what had she done to offend him;
again and again she pondered over the smallest and most insignificant
actions--the lightest words--of the past few weeks, in order to
discover some clue to the mystery of Sir Oswald's altered conduct.
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