Her mother met him as he turned into the garden, but Meriel was not there. She had been married--yesterday.
“So ‘Judgment Day’ is married!” said Rosamund, when Sid had once more returned to his cage to report himself. “It’s too bad of her,” she continued, “for she has quite spoiled my little plan. My test has been no test at all.”
“It was all I needed,” answered Sid. He was thinking of the siren, about whom, like a wise lover, he had kept silence. Too much confession is a dangerous weakness, and we are usually the best judges of our own actions. The siren had been but the process of an experiment. All that concerned Rosamund was the result.
“I wish I could have seen you, Sid, when you heard about ‘Judgment Day.’ I’d give anything to know what you really felt; but, of course, you’ll never tell me.”
“Weren’t you disgusted with her for daring to do it without your consent? The bare idea of a woman who had loved you daring to have any new life on her own account! I am sure you had pictured her spending her days looking dreamily over the sea--waiting for your return. I know you had.”
As a matter of fact Sid had, and his feelings on hearing of Meriel’s marriage had been exceedingly mixed. It was perhaps as well that Rosamund had no record of them.
“Won’t you tell me what you really felt--just for fun? You can be honest, I shan’t mind.”
But Sid was too wise to be honest. He knew where these heart-to-heart confessions, just for fun, were apt to lead.
“I had no feelings. My one thought from beginning to end was to get back to my cage--and never go out of it again.”
“You were relieved then? You had been a little frightened, eh? Yes, you know you had, and you were glad to be let off the ordeal--now, weren’t you?”
Sid certainly had been, but he steadily refused to be drawn. And then Rosamund suddenly changed her tactics.
“But you haven’t asked anything about me during your retrospective pilgrimage!” she said.
“You!” exclaimed Sid, a look of peculiarly masculine surprise coming into his face.
“O yes, me! I suppose you imagined me during your absence sitting here, _à la_ ‘Judgment Day’, docilely awaiting your return.”
“What do you mean, Rosamund?” asked Sid, anxiously.
“I mean that you seem to forget that I, too, had made previous engagements for Judgment Day. When you were off pilgrimaging in the past--what was to hinder me from doing the same?”