第76章

WiththatreplyMrs。Delamaynattemptedtochangethesubject。

LadyLundieliftedhereye-glass，andlookedroundthetablesforthesecondtime。

“Pardonme，“persistedherladyship——“butisitpossiblethatI

havediscoveredanotherabsentee？Idon’tseeMrs。Glenarm。Yetsurelyshemustbehere!Mrs。Glenarmisnottrainingforafoot-race。Doyouseeher？_I_don’t。“

“Imissedherwhenwewentoutontheterrace，andIhavenotseenhersince。“

“Isn’titveryodd，dearMrs。Delamayn？“

“OurguestsatSwanhaven，LadyLundie，haveperfectlibertytodoastheyplease。“

InthosewordsMrs。Delamayn(asshefondlyimagined)dismissedthesubject。ButLadyLundie’srobustcuriosityprovedunassailablebyeventhebroadesthint。Carriedaway，inallprobability，bytheinfectionofmerrimentabouther，herladyshipdisplayedunexpectedreservesofvivacity。Theminddeclinestorealizeit；butitisnotthelesstruethatthismajesticwomanactuallysimpered!

“Shallweputtwoandtwotogether？“saidLadyLundie，withaponderousplayfulnesswonderfultosee。“Here，ontheonehand，isMr。GeoffreyDelamayn——ayoungsingleman。Andhere，ontheother，isMrs。Glenarm——ayoungwidow。Rankonthesideoftheyoungsingleman；richesonthesideoftheyoungwidow。Andbothmysteriouslyabsentatthesametime，fromthesamepleasantparty。Ha，Mrs。Delamayn!shouldIguesswrong，ifIguessedthat_you_willhaveamarriageinthefamily，too，beforelong？“

Mrs。Delamaynlookedalittleannoyed。Shehadentered，withallherheart，intotheconspiracyformakingamatchbetweenGeoffreyandMrs。Glenarm。Butshewasnotpreparedtoownthatthelady’sfacilityhad(inspiteofallattemptstoconcealitfromdiscovery)madetheconspiracyobviouslysuccessfulintendays’time。

“Iamnotinthesecretsoftheladyandgentlemanwhomyoumention，“shereplied，dryly。

Aheavybodyisslowtoacquiremovement——andslowtoabandonmovement，whenonceacquired。TheplayfulnessofLadyLundie，beingessentiallyheavy，followedthesamerule。Shestillpersistedinbeingaslivelyasever。

“Oh，whatadiplomaticanswer!“exclaimedherladyship。“IthinkIcaninterpretit，though，forallthat。AlittlebirdtellsmethatIshallseeaMrs。GeoffreyDelamayninLondon，nextseason。

AndI，forone，shallnotbesurprisedtofindmyselfcongratulatingMrs。Glenarm。“

“Ifyoupersistinlettingyourimaginationrunawaywithyou，LadyLundie，Ican’tpossiblyhelpit。Icanonlyrequestpermissiontokeepthebridleon_mine。_“

Thistime，evenLadyLundieunderstoodthatitwouldbewisetosaynomore。Shesmiledandnodded，inhighprivateapprovalofherownextraordinarycleverness。IfshehadbeenaskedatthatmomentwhowasthemostbrilliantEnglishwomanliving，shewouldhavelookedinwardonherself——andwouldhaveseen，asinaglassbrightly，LadyLundie，ofWindygates。

FromthemomentwhenthetalkathersideenteredonthesubjectofGeoffreyDelamaynandMrs。Glenarm——andthroughoutthebriefperiodduringwhichitremainedoccupiedwiththattopic——Blanchebecameconsciousofastrongsmellofsomespirituousliquorwafteddownonher，asshefancied，frombehindandfromabove。

Findingtheodorgrowstrongerandstronger，s