"What a dear little house!" he exclaimed. "And all so fresh and clean! And what a wilderness surrounding it!"
"Heavens! Look at the dog!" Sholto simulated terror. "Or is he a lion? What a creature!"
"He comes from Newfoundland and he’s more lamb than lion", answered Adeline, patting Nero.
"What sweet babies!" Mary ran to inspect the children. "There’s nothing I want so much as a baby but I don’t seem able to have one".
Conway winked at Adeline. "There is nothing on earth I want less", he said, arranging his silk cravat.
"What perfect repair everything is in!" remarked Sholto, staring about him.
"Child", said Adeline, "the house is barely built. It’s as fresh as a daisy".
He looked at her blankly. He could not imagine a new house.
"How is dear Mama?" she asked.
"Looking lovely", answered Conway. "You remember that she lost a front tooth? Well, she has had a beautiful new one put in its place. It is a miracle. A new discovery. You should see it".
"She says she is coming over here just to show it you", said Sholto. "Both she and Dada are coming".
"Really!" Philip could not help looking a little aghast. "You say they are coming to Jalna?"
"Yes. Dada doesn’t believe half of what Sis writes of the place. He’s coming to see with his own eyes".
"How is Dada?" asked Adeline pensively.
"Beastly as ever", returned Sholto emphatically. "He beat me till I was black and blue just two days before we sailed. I thought I should have had to remain at home".
"It served you right", said his brother.
Mary asked, "Where are the two Irish gentlemen?"
"Mr. D’Arcy returned to Ireland some months ago. Mr. Brent eloped with a Canadian girl. They have lately returned and been forgiven by her father".
"Had she money?" asked Mary.
"Her father is quite well off-as riches go in this country".
"How well off is he as riches go in Ireland?" asked Conway.
"Rolling in wealth. Now come and see your rooms. Then we shall have dinner".
She led them upstairs. They ran from room to room, examining them with the curiosity of children. Adeline herself felt like a child again. It was delightful having them with her.
They made quite a sensation in the neighbourhood, with their odd looks, their clothes in the extreme of European fashion, their free and easy manners. The Laceys gave a lawn party for them but, as it turned out, they were not the centre of interest at it, for Michael Brent and his bride, newly returned and forgiven by her father, were surrounded by a welcoming circle.
Brent disengaged himself as soon as he could and drew Adeline aside. He said:
"I have good news for your gloomy friend".
"I have no gloomy friend", she returned. "I demand good spirits in any friend of mine. If, by chance, it is James Wilmott you refer to, you are mistaken. He would be the happiest man here, if-"
"There need be no if, from now on", interrupted Brent. "Do please capture him and let me relieve his mind".
Adeline found Wilmott in the midst of a group engaged in the sport of archery. He had just raised his bow to his shoulder and was looking intently at the target. She waited till the arrow pierced the bull’s-eye and amid applause he gave way to another player before she spoke.
"Oh, James", she said, "can you leave this game and come with me? Michael Brent has just told me that he has good news for you. He is waiting near the summer-house. Do excuse yourself and come".
"I have won the contest", said Wilmott. "I can come with you at once".
Adeline lingered a moment to watch Daisy Vaughan who, bow in hand, was about to play in a new round. She was the subject of much banter because she could not be made to understand how to hold her bow.
"But I never could hold a bow!" she cried.
"The thing is to catch your beau", laughed Kate Brent. "Once you’ve caught him it’s very easy to hold him".
"What does she mean?" asked Daisy innocently.
"Oh, Daisy, how slow you are!" cried Lydia Busby. "Don’t you see? Bow and beau-b-e-a-u?"
"I declare", said Daisy, "I don’t see any connection. I repeat that, if I had a dozen bows, I could not hold one of them".
There were peals of laughter.
Philip came to her side and put his arm about her, placing her hands correctly on the bow. She smiled helplessly up at him.
As Adeline and Wilmott turned away she asked:
"What do you think of Daisy, James?"
"I think she’s a hussy", he returned curtly.
"I thought so too, at the beginning. Then I thought she was just a silly girl. Now I don’t know what to think. She calls herself my friend".
"She’s no friend of yours. Nor of any woman’s! Adeline, she is man-mad. The bachelors have not come up to the scratch. I think she has given up her ambition for Dr. Ramsay. Now I believe she is after Philip".
"She has always laid herself out to allure him. But I have been only amused by her tricks".
"Philip is the most attractive man in the place".
"But he’s mine!"
"What does she care? Adeline, that girl told my boy, Tite, that he had enchanting eyelashes and a mouth like a pomegranate flower".
Adeline laughed delightedly. "Oh, James, to hear you say that!"
He replied, with some heat, "Poetic phrases might not come so ill from my lips as you imagine".
She gave him an almost tender look. "I never should have laughed if they had been your own, but to hear you repeat them, as from Daisy to Tite, fills me with hilarity. How did Tite take it?"
"The young devil liked it. He has taken to looking at himself in my looking-glass-trying to see his eyelashes and making mouths".
"He’s more French than Indian, by a long shot, Philip says".
They found Brent hiding in the lattice summer-house. He called out softly:
"Here I am. Come and hear the news, Wilmott".
They went in. Adeline seated herself by the side of Brent. Wilmott stood, as though defensively, in the doorway. Brent’s ruddy face was wreathed in a smile of good-fellowship.
"I have seen your wife", he announced.
"Yes?" Wilmott spoke quietly.
"You know Kate and I went to New York on our honeymoon. We had been there only a few days when Mrs. Wilmott discovered me, looking in at the window of a bookshop. She was coming out with a book she had bought. It was almost a year since I had seen her and my first thought was how well she was looking. Really like a different woman".
Wilmott just stared.
"She is not worrying over your whereabouts any longer. She is immersed-literally up to the neck-in the anti-slavery campaign!"
Wilmott’s jaw dropped. He uttered an incoherent sound.
"You see", continued Brent, "she is by nature a woman with a mission. She is completely carried away by this. She never reached Mexico, for she made friends with people who warned her what a precarious and almost hopeless expedition it would be. These friends are anti-slavery enthusiasts. She became one. She travelled with them through the South. Now she is on a lecturing tour in the North, arousing feeling there. She is returning later to England to lecture".