" He waited for a
moment. "Am I not to be favoured with an answer?" he asked.
"My husband shall answer you."
With those parting words, Iris turned her back on him.
She entered the cottage. Now in one room, and now in another, she
searched for Lord Harry; he was nowhere to be found. Had he purposely
gone out to avoid her? Her own remembrance of Vimpany's language and
Vimpany's manner told her that so it must be--the two men were in
league together. Of all dangers, unknown danger is the most terrible to
contemplate. Lady Harry's last resources of resolution failed her. She
dropped helplessly into a chair.
After an interval--whether it was a long or a short lapse of time she
was unable to decide--someone gently opened the door. Had her husband
felt for her? Had he returned? "Come in! she cried eagerly--" come in!
CHAPTER XLV
FACT: RELATED BY FANNY
THE person who now entered the room was Fanny Mere.
But one interest was stirring in the mind of Iris now. "Do you know
where your master is?" she asked.
"I saw him go out," the maid replied. "Which way I didn't particularly
notice--" She was on the point of adding, "and I didn't particularly
care," when she checked herself.
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