"Now I'm going to leave a message for Thurston." She sat down to the table and drew some writing materials towards her. Then she gnawed the end of the pen in some perplexity, looking a little grave.
"You're afraid," said Glen. "You're sorry--you'd like to back out."
"Not at all," answered Indiana, drawing herself up indignantly. "I know just what my husband will do. He won't say a word to anyone--he'll jump in a cab and follow me."
"Not at all. My husband is too high-bred for any public display of feeling. He'll look cold and proud, I'll quiver my eyelids--and--he'll kiss me--that's all." She smiled triumphantly as she scribbled a hasty note.
"I know," agreed Glen, with a sigh. "You could soften anything--even stone."
"Do you know that my husband is an H.F.R.G.S.?" sealing the note.
"Now, what is it? Of course you don't know. Honorary Fellow Royal Geographical Society. They want him to lead an expedition to the North Pole. If I had said 'no,' he would have gone. It was a toss-up."
"What a shame he didn't go," remarked Glen, shaking his head dolefully. "What a loss to science! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" He laughed so heartily, Indiana felt obliged to join him. "How jolly I am!" he thought, bitterly.
"Oh, I'm so excited!" exclaimed Indiana. "I love uncertainty of any kind."
"Women are born gamblers," observed Glen, fastening her wrap under her chin. Jennings entered, in answer to the bell.
"Jennings," said Indiana, with an indifferent air, "there's--there's a note on the table for--your master."
"I hear someone coming downstairs," whispered Glen. "Quick, or Bluebeard will cut off our heads!"
"I feel like a bad boy, playing truant," laughed Indiana. "Scoot!" They ran, giggling quietly, into the hall. Jennings, with a horror-stricken face, tottered to the window, pushed aside the curtains hastily, and pressed his face against the glass.
Lord Stafford, entering the library then, saw him in this position and heard the sound of wheels. "Who's driving off, Jennings?"
Jennings started. "Her--her--little leddyship."
Lord Stafford looked at him incredulously. He had just been talking with Thurston, and Indiana was not likely to go out without him. They always remained at home on Sunday nights. "Impossible!"