Reaching the castle he entered his own quarters as usual, and after setting the draughtsmen to work walked up and down pondering how he might best see her without making the paragraph the ground of his request for an interview; for if it were a fabrication, such a reason would wound her pride in her own honour towards him, and if it were partly true, he would certainly do better in leaving her alone than in reproaching her. It would simply amount to a proof that Paula was an arrant coquette.
In his meditation he stood still, closely scanning one of the jamb-stones of a doorless entrance, as if to discover where the old hinge-hook had entered the stonework. He heard a footstep behind him, and looking round saw Paula standing by. She held a newspaper in her hand. The spot was one quite hemmed in from observation, a fact of which she seemed to be quite aware.
'I have something to tell you,' she said; 'something important. But you are so occupied with that old stone that I am obliged to wait.'
'It is not true surely!' he said, looking at the paper.
'No, look here,' she said, holding up the sheet. It was not what he had supposed, but a new one--the local rival to that which had contained the announcement, and was still damp from the press. She pointed, and he read-'We are authorized to state that there is no foundation whatever for the assertion of our contemporary that a marriage is likely to be arranged between Captain De Stancy and Miss Power of Stancy Castle.'
Somerset pressed her hand. 'It disturbed me,' he said, 'though I did not believe it.'
'It astonished me, as much as it disturbed you; and I sent this contradiction at once.'
'How could it have got there?'
She shook her head.
'You have not the least knowledge?'
'Not the least. I wish I had.'
'It was not from any friends of De Stancy's? or himself?'
'It was not. His sister has ascertained beyond doubt that he knew nothing of it. Well, now, don't say any more to me about the matter.'
'I'll find out how it got into the paper.'
'Not now--any future time will do. I have something else to tell you.'
'I hope the news is as good as the last,' he said, looking into her face with anxiety; for though that face was blooming, it seemed full of a doubt as to how her next information would be taken.
'O yes; it is good, because everybody says so. We are going to take a delightful journey. My new-created uncle, as he seems, and I, and my aunt, and perhaps Charlotte, if she is well enough, are going to Nice, and other places about there.'