The men about
were all on the broad grin when they heard Mr. Arthur's message."
Still in a morbid state of mind, Iris silently regretted that the
message had not been written, instead of being delivered by word of
mouth. Here, again, she (like the wild lord) had been afraid of
listeners.
The hours wore slowly on until it was past four o'clock. Iris could
endure the suspense no longer. "It's a lovely afternoon," she said to
Mrs. Lewson. "Let us take a walk along the road, and meet Arthur." To
this proposal the housekeeper readily agreed.
It was nearly five o'clock when they reached a place at which a by-road
branched off, through a wood, from the highway which they had hitherto
followed. Mrs. Lewson found a seat on a felled tree. "We had better not
go any farther," she said.
Iris asked if there was any reason for this.
There was an excellent reason. A few yards farther on, the high road
had been diverted from the straight line (in the interest of a large
agricultural village), and was then directed again into its former
course. The by-road through the wood served as a short cut, for
horsemen and pedestrians, from one divergent point to the other. It was
next to a certainty that Arthur would return by the short cut.
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