"Ab'n'gas is a very clever man," the gentleman was saying. "I am
sorry I didn't hear the lecture. But I leave all that to Mary. She
receives the people who enjoy high art up-stairs; and I take the
sensible men down to the garden or the smoking-room, according to
the weather."
"What do the sensible women do?" said Lydia.
"They come late," said Mr. Hoskyn, and then laughed at his repartee
until he became aware of the vicinity of Cashel, whose health he
immediately inquired after, shaking his hand warmly and receiving a
numbing grip in return. As soon as he saw that Lydia and Cashel were
acquainted, he slipped away and left them to entertain one another.
"I wonder how he knows me," said Cashel, heartened by her gracious
reception of a nervous bow. "I never saw him before in my life."
"He does not know you," said Lydia, with some sternness. "He is your
host, and therefore concludes that he ought to know you."
"Oh! That was it, was it?" He paused, at a loss for conversation.
She did not help him. At last he added, "I haven't seen you this
long time, Miss Carew."
"It is not very long since I saw you, Mr. Cashel Byron. I saw you
yesterday at some distance from London."
"Oh, Lord!" exclaimed Cashel, "don't say that. You're joking, ain't
you?"
"No. Joking, in that sense, does not amuse me."
Cashel looked at her in consternation. "You don't mean to say that
you went to see a--a--Where--when did you see me? You might tell
me."
"Certainly. It was at Clapham Junction, at a quarter-past six."
"Was any one with me?"
"Your friend, Mr. Mellish, Lord Worthington, and some other
persons."
"Yes. Lord Worthington was there. But where were you?"
"In a waiting-room, close to you."
"I never saw you," said Cashel, growing red as he recalled the
scene. "We must have looked very queer. I had had an accident to my
eye, and Mellish was not sober. Did you think I was in bad company?"
"That was not my business, Mr. Cashel Byron."
"No," said Cashel, with sudden bitterness. "What did YOU care what
company I kept? You're mad with me because I made your cousin look
like a fool, I suppose. That's what's the matter."
Lydia looked around to see that no one was within earshot, and,
speaking in a low tone to remind him that they were not alone, said,
"There is nothing the matter, except that you are a grown-up boy
rather than a man. I am not mad with you because of your attack upon
my cousin; but he is very much annoyed, and so is Mrs. Hoskyn, whose
guest you were bound to respect."