This afternoon he had allowed her
to talk to him for a long time. Lilian's sweetness was irresistible,
and she came back in high spirits with report of progress. Denzil,
who had just been badgered by a deputation of voters who wished to
discover his mind on seven points of strictly non-practical
politics, listened with idle amusement.
"Dear girl," he said presently, "the old fellow is fooling you t You
can no more convert him than you could the Dalai-Lama to
Christianity."
"But he speaks quite seriously, Denzil! He owns that he doesn't like
Beaconsfield, and"----
"Don't waste your time and your patience. It's folly, I assure you.
When you are gone he explodes with laughter."
Lilian gazed at him for a moment with wide eyes, then burst into
tears.
"Good heavens! what is the matter with you, Lily?" cried Denzil,
jumping up. "Come, come, this kind of thing won't do! You are
overtaxing yourself. You are getting morbidly excited."
It was true enough, and Lilian was herself conscious of it, but she
obeyed an impulse from which there seemed no way of escape. Her
conscience and her fears would not leave her at peace; every now and
then she found herself starting at unusual sounds, trembling in
mental agitation if any one approached her with an unwonted look,
dreading the arrival of the post, the sight of a newspaper, faces in
the street.
Pages:
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234