* * * * *
Meanwhile, down-stairs, Ashe himself was wrestling with another phase of
the same situation. Lady Tranmore's note had said: "I shall be with you
almost immediately after you receive this, as I want to catch you before
you go to the Foreign Office."
Accordingly, they were in the library, Ashe on the defensive, Lady
Tranmore nervous, embarrassed, and starting at a sound. Both of them
watched the door. Both looked for and dreaded the advent of Kitty.
"Dear William," said his mother at last, stretching her hand across a
small table which stood between them and laying it on her son's, "you'll
forgive me, won't you?--even if I do seem to you prudish and absurd. But
I am afraid you
ought to tell Kitty some of the unkind things people
are saying! You know I've tried, and she wouldn't listen to me. And you
ought to beg her--yes, William, indeed you ought!--not to give any
further occasion for them."
She looked at him anxiously, full Of that timidity which haunts the
deepest and tenderest affections. She had just given him to read a
letter from Lady Grosville to herself.
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