"
"I'm very sorry I can't," Constance answered, pleasantly. "The
exercise is necessary for me."
"But just this once--"
"Impossible! The morning is too fine and the roads too good."
She sprang into the saddle, and was off--much to Dyce's
mortification. He had not dreamt that she could refuse his request.
And he had meant to talk with such generous confidence, such true
comradeship; it was even his intention to tell Constance that he
looked more for her sympathy and aid than for that of anyone else.
Surely this would have been very gratifying to her; she could not
but have thanked him with real feeling.
At luncheon, Miss Bride was obviously unrepentant. One would have
said that it amused her to notice the slight coldness 'which Lashmar
put into his manner towards her. She had never seemed in better
spirits.
In the afternoon Dyce was summoned to a private interview with Lady
Ogram. It took place in an upstairs room he had not yet entered. His
hostess sat before a wood-fire (though the day was warm) and her
face now and then had a look of suffering, but she spoke cheerfully,
and in a tone of much kindness.
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