They could not stand in this packed group all the time, the whole dozen
or more of them, and they gradually broke up into twos and threes about
the large room.
They were delightfully friendly with one another, and all seemed in the
best of spirits and tempers.
Most of them had no ulterior motive in their behavior to Theodora; it
was merely the feeling that they were not the hostess and responsible.
It was none of their business if Ada neglected her guests, and they all
knew plenty of people and did not care to enlarge their acquaintance
gratuitously.
So when they came in from the dining-room more than one of the men
understood the picture they saw, of the beautiful, little, strange lady
seated alone, while the other women chatted together in groups.
Hector was feeling irritated and excited, and longing to get near
Theodora. He guessed Lord Wensleydown would have the same desire, and
had no intention of being interfered with. He felt he could not bear to
spend an evening watching the little brute daring to lean over her. He
should kill him, or commit some violence, he knew.
Thus prudence, which at another time would have held him--would have
made him remember what was best for her among this crowd of hostile
women--flew to the winds. He must go to her--must show her he loved and
would protect her, and, above all, that he would permit no other man to
usurp his place.
And Theodora, who had been suffering silently a miserable feeling of
loneliness and neglect, felt her heart bound with joy at the sight of
his loved, familiar face, and she welcomed him more warmly than she had
ever done before.
"Have these demons of women been odious to you, darling?" he whispered,
hardly conscious of the term of endearment he had used. "Do not mind
them; it is only jealousy because you are so beautiful and young."
"They have not been anything at all," she said, softly; "they have just
left me alone and kept to themselves, and--and laughed at Josiah, and
that has made me very angry, because--what has he done to them?"
"I loathe them all!" said Hector. "They are hardly fit to be in the same
room with you, dear queen--and if you really belonged to me I would take
you away from them now--to-night."
His voice was a caress, and that sentence, "belonged to me," always made
her heart beat with its pictured possibilities. Oh, how she loved him!
Could anything else in the world really matter while he could sit there
and she could feel his presence and hear his tender words?