"You know you NEVER eat anything in the middle of the day," said her mother, frowning. As Sara was paying no attention to their remarks, Mrs. Wrandall was obliged to deliver the supplemental explanation to Leslie, who hadn"t the remotest interest in the matter. "She"s so silly about getting fat."
Hetty was in a state of nervous excitement during the luncheon.
The encounter with Booth had not resulted at all as she had fancied it would. She had betrayed herself in a most disconcerting manner, and now was more deeply involved than ever before. She had been determined at the outset, she had failed, and now he had a claim--an incontestable claim against her. She found it difficult to meet Sara"s steady, questioning gaze. She wanted to be alone.
"I suppose you have heard nothing recent from poor Lord Murgatroyd,"
Mrs. Wrandall was saying to her, in a most sympathetic tone.
Hetty scarcely grasped the importance of the remark. She looked rather blankly at their guest.
Sara stepped into the breach. "What do the morning despatches say, Mrs. Wrandall?"
"He is sinking rapidly, I fear. Of course, his extreme age is against him. How old is he, Miss Castleton?"
"I--I haven"t the remotest idea, Mrs. Wrandall," said the girl.
"He is very, very old."
"Ninety-two, the Sun says," supplied Vivian.
There was an unaccountable silence.
"I suppose there is--ah--really no hope," said Mrs. Redmond Wrandall at last.
"I fear not," said Hetty composedly. "Except for the heirs-at-law."
Mrs. Wrandall sat up a little straighter in her chair. "Dear me,"
she said.
"They"ve been waiting for a good many years," commented Hetty, without emotion. "Of course, Mrs. Wrandall, you understand that I am not one of those who will profit by his death. The estate is entailed. I am quite outside the walls."
"I did not know the--ah--"
"My father may come in for a small interest. He is in England at present on furlough. But there are a great many near relatives to be fed before the bowl of plenty gets to him."
"Dear, dear!" murmured Mrs. Wrandall, quite appalled by her way of putting it. Leslie looked at her and coughed. "What a delicious dressing you have for these alligator pears, Sara," she went on, veering quickly. "You must tell me how it is made."
After luncheon, Leslie drew Sara aside.
"I must say she doesn"t seem especially overjoyed to see me," he growled. "She"s as cool as ice."
"What do you expect, Leslie?" she demanded with some asperity.
"I can"t stand this much longer, Sara," he said. "Don"t you see how things are going? She"s losing her heart to Booth."
"I don"t see how we can prevent it."
"By gad, I"ll have another try at it--to-night. I say, has she said--anything?"
"She pities you," said she, a malicious joy in her soul. "That"s akin to something else, you know."
"Confound it all, I don"t want to be pitied!"
"Then I"d advise you to defer your "try" at it," she remarked.
"I"m mad about her, Sara. I can"t sleep, I can"t think, I can"t--yes, I CAN eat, but it doesn"t taste right to me. I"ve just got to have it settled. Why, people are beginning to notice the change in me.
They say all sorts of things. About my liver, and all that sort of thing. I"m going to settle it to-night. It"s been nearly three weeks now. She"s surely had time to think it over; how much better everything will be for her, and all that. She"s no fool, Sara. And do you know what Vivian"s doing this very instant over there in the corner? She"s inviting her to spend a fortnight over at our place.
If she comes,--well, that means the engagement will be announced at once."
Sara did not marvel at his a.s.surance in the face of what had gone before. She knew him too well. In spite of the original rebuff, he was thoroughly satisfied in his own mind that Hetty Castleton would not be such a fool as to refuse him the second time.
"It is barely possible, Leslie," she said, "that she may consider Brandon Booth quite as good a catch as you, and infinitely better looking at the present moment."
"It"s this beastly sunburn," he lamented, rubbing his nose gently, thinking first of his person. An instant later he was thinking of the other half of the declaration. "That"s just what I"ve been afraid of," he said. "I told you what would happen if that portrait nonsense went on for ever. It"s your fault, Sara."
"But I have reason to believe she will not accept him, if it goes so far as that. You are quite safe in that direction."
""Gad, I"d hate to risk it," he muttered. "I have a feeling she"s in love with him."
Vivian approached. "Sara, you must let me have Miss Castleton for the first two weeks in July," she said serenely.
"I can"t do it, Vivian," said the other promptly. "I can"t bear the thought of being alone in this big old barn of a place. Nice of you to want her, but--"
"Oh, don"t be selfish, Sara," cried Vivian.
"You don"t know how much I depend on her," said Sara.
"I"d ask you over, too, dear, if there weren"t so many others coming.
I don"t know where we"re going to put them. You understand, don"t you?"
"Perfectly," said her sister-in-law, smiling.
"But I"ve been counting on--Hetty."
"I say, Sara," broke in Leslie, "you COULD go up to Bar Harbour with the Williamsons at that time. Tell her about the invitation, Vivie."
"It isn"t necessary," said Sara coldly. "I scarcely know the Williamsons." She hesitated an instant and then went on with sardonic dismay: "They"re in trade, you know."
"That"s nothing against "em," protested he. "Awfully jolly people--really ripping. Ain"t they, Viv?"
"I don"t know them well enough to say," said Vivian, turning away.
"I only know we"re all sn.o.bs of the worst sort."
"Just a minute, Viv," he called out. "What does Miss Castleton say about coming?" It was an eager question. Much depended on the reply.
"I haven"t asked her," said his sister succinctly. "How could I, without first consulting Sara?"
"Then, you don"t intend to ask her?"
"Certainly not."