'Not mother?'
The change in him was very sudden. He had been merry and smiling.
'No; worse than that. She's got a letter from Kate.'
'From Kate? Emma's sister?' he asked in a low voice of surprise
which would have been dismay had he not governed himself.
'I saw it on the hall table; I remember her writing well enough.
Just as I was looking at it Adela came in.'
'Have you seen her since?'
Alice shook her head. She had this way of saving words. Richard
walked on. His first movement of alarm had passed, and now he
affected to take the matter with indifference. During the week
immediately following his marriage he had been prepared for this
very incident; the possibility had been one of the things he faced
with a certain recklessness. But impunity had set his mind at ease,
and the news in the first instant struck him with a trepidation
which a few minutes' thought greatly allayed. By a mental process
familiar enough he at first saw the occurrence as he had seen it in
the earlier days of his temptation, when his sense of honour yet
gave him frequent trouble; he had to exert himself to recover his
present standpoint. At length he smiled.
'Just like that woman,' he said, turning half an eye on Alice.
'If she means trouble, you'll have it,' returned the girl
sententiously.
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