His eyelids drooped a
little, his brows rose slightly.
She was wearing a blue wrap over her evening frock, and he seized
instinctively on that indifferent trifle to begin this talk.
"Ah! Babs, have you been out?"
Alive to her very finger-nails, with every nerve tingling, but showing
no sign, Barbara answered:
"No; on the roof of the tower."
It gave her a real malicious pleasure to feel the perplexity beneath
her father's dignified exterior. And detecting that covert mockery, Lord
Valleys said dryly:
"Star-gazing?"
Then, with that sudden resolution peculiar to him, as though he were
bored with having to delay and temporize, he added:
"Do you know, I doubt whether it's wise to make appointments in
confectioner's shops when Ann is in London."
The dangerous little gleam in Barbara's eyes escaped his vision but not
that of Lady Valleys, who said at once:
"No doubt you had the best of reasons, my dear."
Barbara curled her lip. Had it not been for the scene they had been
through that day with Miltoun, and for their very real anxiety, both
would have seen, then, that while their daughter was in this mood, least
said was soonest mended. But their nerves were not quite within control;
and with more than a touch of impatience Lord Valleys ejaculated:
"It doesn't appear to you, I suppose, to require any explanation?"
Barbara answered:
"No.
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