When the waiter came up to the solitary lady at the table, and Colonel Piercey turned his face in that direction, he started and swore under his breath, “By Jove!” though he was not a man addicted to expletives. Then he said, “Meg! Meg!” under his breath; “who do you think is sitting behind you at that table? Don’t turn round. Mrs. Piercey, as sure as life!”
“Mrs. Piercey?” She was bewildered for a moment. “There are so many Mrs. Pierceys. Whom do you mean?”
“One more than there used to be, for my salvation,” the bridegroom said; and then added, with a laugh, “but no other like this one, Meg--Mrs. Piercey of Greyshott----”
“Patty!” cried Margaret, under her breath.
“If you dare to be so familiar with so great a lady--the heroine of the trial, poor Uncle Giles’ good angel----”
“Oh, don’t be bitter, Gerald! It is all over and done with; and who knows, if it had been otherwise----”
“Whether we should ever have come together?” he said: “you know best, so far as that goes, my love; and if it might have been so, good luck to Greyshott, and I am glad we have not got it. Yes, there she is, the identical Patty; and none the better for her success, I should say, looking very much bored and rather pale.”
“There is nobody with her that I can see. No, she is quite alone, and bored, as I told you; and in a diamond necklace,” he said with a laugh.
“Alone, and with a diamond necklace, in the dining-room of a hotel!”
“Well, why not? To show it and herself, of course; and probably a much better way than any other in her power to show them.”
“Oh, Gerald, don’t be so merciless. She has got your inheritance; but still, it was really Uncle Giles’ will, and she was kind to him--even old Dunning could not deny that. And if Gervase had lived----”
“It was as well he did not live, poor fellow, for her as well as for himself, though I should certainly, myself, have preferred it; for then we should have had none of this fuss, either of anticipation or disappointment--and no trial, and no costs; and no useless baronetcy that brings in nothing.”
“Don’t say that; your father likes it, and so will you in your day.”
“My father likes to be head of the family, and so shall I. We’ll have our first quarrel, Meg, over that little hussy, then.”