He sat down by her and took her hand. The loving look in his eyes,
which she knew so well, was not in them now; they expressed doubt, and
something with it which suggested an effort at conciliation.
"I am fearing I shall surprise you," he said.
"Don't keep me in suspense!" she returned. "What is it?"
He smiled uneasily: "It's something about Vimpany."
Having got as far as that, he stopped. She drew her hand away from him.
"I understand now," she said; "I must endeavour to control myself--you
have something to tell me which will try my temper."
He held up his hands in humorous protest: "Ah, my darling, here's your
vivid imagination again, making mountains out of molehills, as they
say! It's nothing half so serious as you seem to think; I have only to
tell you of a little change."
"A little change?" she repeated. "What change?"
"Well, my dear, you see--" He hesitated and recovered himself. "I mean,
you must know that Vimpany's plans are altered. He won't any longer
occupy his bedroom in the cottage here."
Iris looked inexpressibly relieved. "Going away, at last!" she
exclaimed. "Oh, Harry, if you have been mystifying me, I hope you will
never do it again. It isn't like you; it's cruel to alarm me about
nothing. Mr. Vimpany's empty bedroom will be the most interesting room
in the house, when I look into it to-night."
Lord Harry got up, and walked to the window. As a sign of trouble in
his mind, and of an instinctive effort to relieve it, the object of
this movement was well-known to Iris. She followed him and stood by his
side. It was now plain to her that there was something more to be
told--and that he was hesitating how to confide it to his wife.
"Go on," she said resignedly.
He had expected her to take his arm, or perhaps to caress him, or at
least to encourage him by her gentlest words and her prettiest smiles.
The steady self-restraint which she now manifested was a sign, as he
interpreted it, of suppressed resentment. Shrinking, honestly
shrinking, from the bare possibility of another quarrel, he confronted
the hard necessities of further confession.
"Well, now," he said, "it's only this--you mustn't look into the empty
bedroom to-night."
"Why not?"
"Ah, for the best of all good reasons! Because you might find somebody
in there."