"I imagine you would like me to congratulate you. I hope you will be
happy."
"Thanks. I might not have spoken of it for a day or two, but that I
thought it might influence your own decision."
"Hardly." Both voices were cold, but Anne's the coldest, and she spoke
with a sweet modulation which irritated Lady Dalrymple, conscious of her
own harsher tones. Her next words were more hasty.
"Hitherto, at any rate, you have had a home with me."
"By my father's will it was provided for, I think?"
Lady Dalrymple's fingers tapped the arms of her chair impatiently.
"Certainly. But alone, you will not find that you can live in the same
comfort. If you could, General Hervey is not likely to permit it."
For the first time there was a trace of uneasiness in Anne's repetition
of the name.
"General Hervey?"
"Have you forgotten that in case of my marriage he was to act as your
guardian?"
She had.
"Probably he will wish you to live in Eaton Square with them, and I
scarcely think you will find this agreeable."
Anne's refuge was silence and a smile. Lady Dalrymple wished to wound,
but not to break with her, for the Thorpe shooting was dear to Lord
Arthur, and having been made aware of Lord. Milborough's wishes, he had
impressed them upon his intended bride as requiring her co-operation.
She therefore made haste to add--
"But of course you will marry, and quickly, and I have only said this
because, if Lord Milborough's proposal has not come, it is undoubtedly
imminent."