"Yes," she murmured, "I understand. Don't let them ever bring you away."




CHAPTER XI

MANNERING'S ALTERNATIVE


Once again Mannering found himself in the over-scented, overheated room,
which was perhaps of all places in the world the one he hated the most.
Fresh from the wind-swept places of his country home, he found the
atmosphere intolerable. After a few minutes' waiting he threw open the
windows and leaned out. Hester was walking in the Square somewhere. He
had a shrewd idea that she had been sent out of the way. With a restless
impatience of her absence he awaited the interview which he dreaded.

Her mother's coming took him a little by surprise. She seemed to have
laid aside all her usual customs. She entered the room quietly. She
greeted him almost nervously. She was dressed, without at any rate any
obvious attempt to attract, in a plain black gown, and with none of the
extravagances in which she sometimes delighted. Her usual boisterous
confidence of manner seemed to have deserted her. Her face, without its
skilful touches of rouge, looked thin, and almost peaked.

"I am so glad that you came, Lawrence," she said. "It was very good of
you."