She had made arrangements for
her eldest son's supper. No word had come from Wanley, but she held
to the conviction that this night would see Richard in London.
Alice came down and declared that she was very hungry. Her mother
went to the kitchen to order a meal, which in the end she prepared
with her own hands. She seemed to have a difficulty in addressing
any one. Whilst Alice ate in silence, Mrs. Mutimer kept going in and
out of the room; when the girl rose from the table, she stood before
her and asked:
'Why couldn't he come?'
Alice went to the fireplace, knelt down, and spread her hands to.
the blaze. Her mother approached her again.
'Won't you give me no answer, Alice?'
'He couldn't come, mother. Something important is keeping him.'
'Something important? And why did he want you there?'
Alice rose to her feet, made one false beginning, then spoke to the
point.
'Dick's married, mother.'
The old woman's eyes seemed to grow small in her wrinkled face, as
if directing themselves with effort upon something minute. They
looked straight into the eyes of her daughter, but had a more
distant focus. The fixed gaze continued for nearly a minute.
'What are you talking about, girl?' she said at length, in a strange,
rattling voice. 'Why, I've seen Emma this very morning.
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