This was a poser, and it had to be faced with instant decision. Rapidly reflecting that unless he was then and there prepared to accuse his fair _vis-à-vis_ with complicity with Ziegler there was only one course open to him, he took it promptly. He little thought that within the next forty-eight hours his fate--to live or to die--would depend on the demeanor he then adopted.
"I certainly did not follow you with a bad motive, and--there, a straight question deserves a straight answer--I am very far from being indifferent to you, Mrs. Talmage Eglinton," he said.
After that the amenities flowed in the most friendly channel, though Forsyth suffered agonies, and it required all his skill as an amateur actor of repute to sustain the part of a diffident lover hovering on the brink of a declaration.
In the afternoon they returned to Prior's Tarrant together, outwardly on the best of terms; but, needless to say, Forsyth was still "hovering."
The next day was that set for the arrival of Senator Sherman, though it would be quite late in the afternoon before he could reach Prior's Tarrant from Liverpool. Mrs. Sherman had addressed a letter to him on board the _Campania_, explaining matters and passing on a cordial invitation from Beaumanoir that he would join the party on landing.
Latterly there had been an entire absence of the excursions and alarums which had marked the earlier days of the house-party. General Sadgrove and Alec Forsyth had relaxed none of their vigilance, and Azimoolah still ranged the glades of the park, but no more unauthorized artists had put in an appearance, nor had any member of the party suffered from headache, entailing the strange cure of a midnight journey.
On this eventful morning it so happened that the ladies were all assembled in the breakfast-room before any of the gentlemen were down. Sybil, presiding at the tea and coffee equipage, was evincing deep interest in Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's narrative of her purchases in London the day before; Mrs. Sherman was wondering to Mrs. Sadgrove whether "Leonidas" would come straight to Prior's Tarrant, or insist on depositing the bonds in the Bank of England first; and Leonie was looking dreamily through the open windows across the park--she was often dreaming nowadays; so was the Duke.