If he
was late in getting home, he was anxious that my lady should not be
made uneasy. After having authorised Mr. Vimpany's interference in the
garden, the husband evidently had his motives for avoiding another
interview with the wife. Iris was left alone, to think over that
discovery. Fanny had received orders to prepare the bedroom for the
doctor's patient.
CHAPTER XLVI
MAN AND WIFE
TOWARDS evening, the Dane was brought to the cottage.
A feeling of pride which forbade any display of curiosity, strengthened
perhaps by an irresistible horror of Vimpany, kept Iris in her room.
Nothing but the sound of footsteps, outside, told her when the
suffering man was taken to his bed-chamber on the same floor. She was,
afterwards informed by Fanny that the doctor turned down the lamp in
the corridor, before the patient was helped to ascend the stairs, as a
means of preventing the mistress of the house from plainly seeing the
stranger's face, and recognising the living likeness of her husband.
The hours advanced--the bustle of domestic life sank into
silence--everybody but Iris rested quietly in bed.
Through the wakeful night the sense of her situation oppressed her
sinking spirits.
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