"Don't keep me in suspense!" she returned. "What is it?"
He smiled uneasily: "It's something about Vimpany."
Having got as far as that, he stopped. She drew her hand away from him.
"I understand now," she said; "I must endeavour to control myself--you
have something to tell me which will try my temper."
He held up his hands in humorous protest: "Ah, my darling, here's your
vivid imagination again, making mountains out of molehills, as they
say! It's nothing half so serious as you seem to think; I have only to
tell you of a little change."
"A little change?" she repeated. "What change?"
"Well, my dear, you see--" He hesitated and recovered himself. "I mean,
you must know that Vimpany's plans are altered. He won't any longer
occupy his bedroom in the cottage here."
Iris looked inexpressibly relieved. "Going away, at last!" she
exclaimed. "Oh, Harry, if you have been mystifying me, I hope you will
never do it again. It isn't like you; it's cruel to alarm me about
nothing. Mr. Vimpany's empty bedroom will be the most interesting room
in the house, when I look into it to-night."
Lord Harry got up, and walked to the window. As a sign of trouble in
his mind, and of an instinctive effort to relieve it, the object of
this movement was well-known to Iris.
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