one of the sitting-rooms? I dare say we could find one empty, so as to
be alone."

"Please come in," her voice said, and she was conscious that she was
trembling from head to foot.

So he obeyed her, shutting the door firmly after him and advancing to
the fireplace. She had been lying upon the sofa wrapped in a soft blue
tea-gown, and her hair hung in the two long plaits, which she always
unwound when she could to take its weight from her head. She rose from
her reclining position and sat in the corner; and after glancing at her
for a second, Tristram turned his eyes away, and leaning on the
mantelpiece, began in a cold grave voice:

"I have to ask you to do me a favor. It is to help me through to-morrow
and the few days after, as best you can, by conforming to our ways. It
has been always the custom in the family, when a Tancred brought home
his bride, to have all sorts of silly rejoicings. There will be
triumphal arches in the park, and collections of village people, a lunch
for the principal tenants, speeches, and all sorts of boring things.
Then we shall have to dine alone in the state dining-room, with all the
servants watching us, and go to the household and tenants' ball in the
great hall. It will all be ghastly, as you can see." He paused a moment,
but he did not change the set tone in his voice when he spoke again, nor
did he look at her. He had now come to the hardest part of his task.

"All these people--who are my people," he went on, "think a great deal
of these things, and of us--that is--myself, as their landlord, and you
as my wife. We have always been friends, the country folk at Wrayth and
my family, and they adored my mother. They are looking forward to our