"I thought you"d be here. I went to your room and found you were out.
Thought I"d get up early."
"I"m so glad. _Isn"t_ it lovely and worth seeing here? Come and pick some fruit in the orchard."
"No, thanks."
"Oh, _do_! Harry"s devouring gooseberries. He"s sketching the sky."
"Why doesn"t Harry come?" said Romer.
He had no expression, and it was always impossible to guess by his looks or his tone what he was thinking or feeling, except when he smiled.
"Here he is."
Harry joined them.
"Good gracious, old boy! Who in the world--! What on earth made you come out so early?"
Romer now smiled and looked at Valentia admiringly.
"Gardener"s not up yet. Thought perhaps I"d mow the lawn," he said apologetically.
CHAPTER XXVIII
"REPLY PAID"
Valentia had been hurt at the tone in which Harry had given his orders, and turned from him to help to find the mowing-machine.
"Doesn"t she look jolly at sunrise? All that pink and mauve in the sky tones in so well. It seems to suit her. That"s how she really should be painted," said Harry, in the tone of an artist admiring his model.
"Don"t you think so?"
"Yes," said Romer.
"She looks like a golden rose," Harry went on. He wanted to please Val, who he saw was annoyed with him, and to emphasise the openness of his admiration to Romer. "Doesn"t she?"
"Quite," said her husband.
Harry felt the morning was spoilt and the situation absurd. He could not bear to be thwarted in any way. He went back to his own room, bounced angrily on to his bed, and went to sleep again, after having seen Valentia through the window helping to push the mower, and saying to himself--
"How like a woman! I shall go up to town with Van Buren and send a wire to Alec."
This was his revenge.
Their momentary fears about Romer were completely dissipated. He seemed exactly as usual. As a rule he was even-tempered. Not many people had seen him put out, though he could be very angry, except with Valentia.
During this day he seemed, for him, a little irritable. Perhaps, Val thought, through getting up too early.
Harry went up to town with Van Buren for the day, intending to return the same evening. He soon recovered himself in the course of copious confidences in the train. As soon as he had arrived in London he began to count the minutes before he should go back.
Valentia expected the elder Mrs. Wyburn to lunch.
"What shall we do with her to-day?" Val asked Daphne. "She must be kept in a good temper, because it"s the last time she"ll come down before going to Bournemouth. It"s rather a pity they"ve all gone. Romer is sure to say the wrong thing to her--let out some trifle that we have been carefully concealing for months--praise up Harry, or something."
"Doesn"t she like Harry?"
"Since he went to see her she likes him for herself, but not for me."
"What cheek! But he"s not here."
"No, if he were she might like him again all right. Then, Romer talks too slowly for her. Her mind works quicker than his, and one can only deal with him by racing on in front, and turning round to beckon. With Mrs. Wyburn there are only two things that are any use--dash and volubility. It"s difficult to keep the thing going when she"s alone with us."
"Well, why not pa.s.s the time this afternoon by returning the Campbells"
visit, and take Mrs. Wyburn with us to "The Angles"?" Daphne suggested.
"Oh no! It"s treating them almost like royalty to go so soon. And there"s the Belgian man."
"Doesn"t she like Belgians then, Val?"
"I"ve never asked her. Only, don"t you see, it isn"t that but the Belgian is what Harry calls a blighter--a beano-blighter; and so is Mrs.
Wyburn, and it doesn"t do to have two beano-blighters in the same party."
"Ah, I see; they"d clash. What _is_ a beano-blighter exactly, Val?"
"A person who blights beanos. Who makes every one a little uncomfortable, casts a gloom over entertainments--has to be taken in hand and dealt with separately from the others--doesn"t blend, you know."
"You mean some one who isn"t the life and soul of the party?"
"No, I don"t. That"s almost as bad in its way. In fact, the life-and-soul-of-the-party person casts almost as great a gloom on the rest as a blighter."
"Oh dear! Yes, I see."
"We must meet her at the station in the motor. I shall put on my blue serge and my plain sailor. She mustn"t see me in the garden without a hat, nor in a real one. You do the same, Daphne."
"But my sailor"s too large in the head, and that makes it fall over my eyes, and that gives it a Frenchy look, like _L"Art et la Mode_,"
protested Daphne.
"Stuff it with paper. Here"s the _Bystander_."
"Oh, isn"t it a pity? There"s such a pretty picture of----"
"Oh, don"t bother."
Mrs. Wyburn was gracious to-day, and all was going well when, about half-past five, a telegram, reply paid, was brought. It was addressed to Harry.
"What shall we do?"