But Quisante also
had a scheme; he also was watching and working for an opportunity, and
seeing one now in her great cordiality of manner he seized it with his
rapid decisiveness, cutting in before his wife had time to develop her
attack. He pressed her hand as she gave him his cup, sighed as though in
weariness, took a paper from his pocket, and laid it on the table, giving
it a tentative gentle push in the direction of her chair.
"We've got the Alethea afloat at last," he said. "There's the prospectus,
if you care to look at it." With this he glanced at the clock, sighed
again and added, "I must be at the House early this evening. By Jove, I'm
tired though!" This little odd ineradicable trick of his made May smile;
he was never so tired as when he had a risky card to play; then, indeed,
he affected for his purposes some sort of reconcilability with those
incongruous ideas of collapse and mortality that Lady Mildmay had
suggested. He inspired May, as he did sometimes now, with a malicious
wish to make him show himself at his trickiest.
Pages:
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347