Did you
think I should believe you were up to something queer, eh?'
'You must think what you like,' she sobbed, utterly humiliated.
He roared with laughter.
'What a splendid idea! The Princess getting tired of propriety and
making appointments in London! Little fool! do you think I should
care one straw? Why shouldn't you amuse yourself?'
Alice looked at him with eyes of wondering misery.
'Do you mean that you don't care enough for me to--to--'
'Don't care one farthing's worth! And to think you went and walked
about in the mud and the east wind! Well, if that isn't the best
joke I ever heard! I'll have a rare laugh over this story with some
men I know to-morrow.'
She crept away to her bedroom. He had gone far towards killing the
love that had known no rival in her heart.
He bantered her ceaselessly through breakfast next morning, and for
the first time she could find no word to reply to him. Her head
drooped; she touched nothing on the table. Before going off he asked
her what the appointment was for to-day, and advised her not to
forget her latch-key. Alice scarcely heard him, she was
shame-stricken and wobegone.
Rodman, on the other hand, had never been in better spirits. The
'Irish Dairy Company' was attracting purchasers of shares. It was
the kind of scheme which easily recommended itself to a host of the
foolish people who are ever ready to risk their money, also to some
not quite so foolish.
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