Her whole
adventure of coming up here seemed bizarre, ridiculous. Very stealthily
she crept down, and had reached once more the door into 'the picture
gallery, when she heard her mother's voice say in amazement: "That you,
Babs?" And turning, saw her coming from the doorway of the sanctum.
Of a sudden very cool, with all her faculties about her, Barbara smiled,
and stood looking at Lady Valleys, who said with hesitation:
"Come in here, dear, a minute, will you?"
In that room resorted to for comfort, Lord Valleys was standing with his
back to the hearth, and an expression on his face that wavered between
vexation and decision. The doubt in Agatha's mind whether she should
tell or no, had been terribly resolved by little Ann, who in a pause
of conversation had announced: "We saw Auntie Babs and Mr. Courtier in
Gustard's, but we didn't speak to them."
Upset by the events of the afternoon, Lady Valleys had not shown her
usual 'savoir faire'. She had told her husband. A meeting of this sort
in a shop celebrated for little save its wedding cakes was in a sense of
no importance; but, being disturbed already by the news of Miltoun, it
seemed to them both nothing less than sinister, as though the heavens
were in league for the demolition of their house. To Lord Valleys it was
peculiarly mortifying, because of his real admiration for his daughter,
and because he had paid so little attention to his wife's warning of
some weeks back.
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