For a few moments none of those left on the steps spoke, except to fret
in undertones for an absent carriage. Then Ashe saw his own groom, and
stormed at him for delay. In another minute he and Kitty were in the
carriage, and the figures under the porch dropped out of sight.
* * * * *
"Better not do that again, Kitty, I think," said Ashe.
Kitty glanced at him. But both voice and manner were as usual. "Why
shouldn't I?" she said, haughtily; he saw that she had grown very white.
"I was telling Geoffrey where to find me at Lord's."
Ashe winced at the "Archangelism" of the Christian name.
"You kept Lady Parham waiting."
"What does that matter?" said Kitty, with an angry laugh.
"And you did Cliffe too much honor," said Ashe. "It's the men who should
stand on the steps--not the women!"
Kitty sat erect. "What do you mean?" she said, in a low, menacing voice.
"Just what I say," was the laughing reply.
Kitty threw herself back in her corner, and could not be induced to open
her lips or look at her companion till they reached home.
On the landing, however, outside her bedroom, she turned and said:
"Don't, please, say impertinent things to me again!" And drawn up to her
full height, the most childish and obstinate of tragedy queens, she
swept into her room.
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