VI
Face to face with his visitor the master of Dedborough betrayed the impression
his daughter appeared to have given him. "She didn't want to go?" And then before Lord John could reply: "What the deuce is the matter with her?"
Lord John took his time. "I think perhaps a little Mr. Crimble." "And who the deuce is a little Mr. Crimble?"
"A young man who was just with her—and whom she appears to have invited."
"Where is he then?" Lord Theign demanded.
"Off there among the pictures—which he seems partly to have come for." "Oh!"—it made his lordship easier. "Then he's all right—on such a day."
His companion could none the less just wonder. "Hadn't Lady Grace told you?"
"That he was coming? Not that I remember." But Lord Theign, perceptibly preoccupied, made nothing of this. "We've had
