A Country Gentleman and His Family · Chapter 27 (2/2)

She shook her head, not answering, which indeed he scarcely left her time to do, he had so much to say. His very nature seemed changed, the proud, fastidious, taciturn Warrender babbling like a happy boy, in the sudden overflow of a bliss which was too much for him. But while he ran on, a louder voice than hers interrupted him⁠—the bell that meant the commonest of all events, the bell for luncheon. It fell into the soft retirement of that paradise, which was something of a fool’s paradise to Theo, scaring and startling the pair. She made a start from his side with a guilty blush, and even he for a moment paused with something like a sense of alarm. They looked at each other as if they had been suddenly cited to appear before a tribunal and answer for what they had done. Then he broke into a breathless laugh. “I shall have to leave you. I can’t face that ordeal. Oh, what a falling off is here⁠—luncheon! must I leave everything for that?”

“Yes, go, go⁠—it is too much,” she murmured, like a culprit whose accomplice may be saved, but who herself must face the judge. “I could not bear it; I could not hold up my head, if you were there.”

“One moment!” She was leaning towards him, when Geoff’s hasty steps were heard in the hall and his voice that seemed to sound sharp in her very ears, “Where’s mamma?” Lady Markland fell back with a face like a ghost, covering it with her hands. Warrender felt as if a sudden flame was lit in his heart. He seized her almost with violence. “I will come back tonight, when he is in bed. Be in the avenue. I must see you again today.”

“I will, Theo.”

“At nine o’clock.” He pulled away the hand which still was over her eyes. “You are mine, remember, mine first. I shall count the minutes till I come back. Mine first, mine always.”

“Oh, Theo, yes! for the love of heaven go!”

Was that how to conclude the first meeting of happy lovers? Warrender rushed through the hall, with his blood on fire, almost knocking over Geoff, who presented himself, very curious and sharp-eyed, directly in the way.

“Oh, I say, Theo!” cried Geoff. “Where are you going, Theo? that’s lunch! lunch is on the table. Don’t you hear the bell? Can’t you stay?”

Warrender waved his hand, he could make no reply. He could have taken the child by the collar and flung him far away into the unknown, if that had been practicable. Ghosts, she had said: Geoff was no ghost, but he was insupportable; not to be seen with composure at that tremendous moment. The young man rushed down the steps and struck across the drive at a pace like a racehorse, though he was only walking. He forgot even the big black, munching his hay tranquilly in the stable and thinking no harm.