Bunny was looking at her hard. He turned abruptly to Jake. "Why does she lock like that? She hasn’t been ill, has she?"
Jake’s eyes went to his wife’s face. He regarded her critically for a moment.
But before he could speak Maud hastily broke in. "Bunny! How absurd! Of course not! I am never ill. Jake, pass up his cup!"
He obeyed in silence, and she received it with a hand that trembled. Her face was burning.
"You look better now," said Bunny. "P’raps it’s the heat. How do you amuse yourself nowadays? Is Saltash at the Castle?"
She shook her head. "No. He left on the same day that you did. I have scarcely seen him since."
"You have heard from him," said Jake, in the tone of one making a casual statement.
She was silent for a second or two while she poured out Bunny’s tea; then, without lifting her eyes, "Yes," she said. "I have heard from him."
"Where is he?" asked Bunny. "Does he write often?"
"Not often," said Maud. She suddenly looked across at Jake with eyes that seemed to fling a challenge. "I expect you know where he is," she said.
He met her look with the utmost deliberation, and almost at once she looked away.
"I expect he’ll be going to Scotland next month," said Bunny. "But I hope he’ll come here first. I’d like to see him. Aren’t there some big races at Graydown soon, Jake? Won’t he come for them?"
"I can’t say what he’ll do," said Jake, pulling out his pipe. "The Burchester Cup will be run in a fortnight."
"Oh, Jake, old chap, do--do let me see that!" urged Bunny, with shining eyes. "Is the Mascot going to run again?"
"No, not the Mascot this time,--the Albatross. You remember him? Reckon he ought to carry it off if his jockey is good enough." Jake spoke with something of a frown.
Bunny was all eagerness. "The Albatross! Wasn’t he the chap you were forcing into the water that day you first spoke to us? Yes, I remember him, of course--a beauty. Who’s up, Jake? Isn’t he any good?"
"I wanted Vickers to ride him," Jake said. "He’s been training. But he has just broken his thumb, confound him. That leaves it to Dick Stevens, and I don’t feel just sure of him. He may pull it off; but he’s not like Sam Vickers. The animals haven’t the same faith in him,--any more than I have."