Mrs. Lovelace opened her small round eyes to their widest extent. "Why, can it be as your lordship hasn’t heard?"
"Heard! Heard what? Tell me quickly!" urged his lordship. "This suspense is too horrible!"
"About Mr. Bolton’s marriage, sir," explained Mrs. Lovelace, looking suddenly prim.
"What!" ejaculated her listener. "You don’t say Bolton’s been caught?"
"The marriage took place last Sunday, my lord," said Mrs. Lovelace, still looking prim but plainly enjoying her _rôle_ of informant.
Lord Saltash slapped his thigh with a yell of laughter. "Poor old Jake! And who is the bride?"
"Mrs. Bolton, my lord, is the step-daughter of Mr. Sheppard of the Anchor Hotel," said Mrs. Lovelace.
"Is she though? What’s she like? Pretty?"
Mrs. Lovelace pursed her lips. "She is a lady, my lord,--own daughter to a baronet."
"Oh, I say!" protested Lord Saltash. "You’re cramming me!"
Mrs. Lovelace looked shocked but at the same time flattered by the accusation. "Indeed, my lord, it’s the truth!" she protested. "And her brother Sir Bernard Brian is in the house at the present moment. He, poor young gentleman, has the misfortune to be afflicted with a humpback."
"What? What? What? My good woman, do you know what you’re talking about?" Saltash’s mobile brows came suddenly low over his eyes in a heavy scowl that added years to his appearance. He leaned nearer to her. "What?" he said again.
Mrs. Lovelace paused, debating which of her statements he desired her to repeat. But ere she could make up her mind, Lord Saltash dropped with a thud to the ground. He threw his horse’s bridle over the gate-post, and turned to enter.
"Just ring up one of the stable-lads, and tell him to walk Moscow up and down till I come!" he ordered, his voice no longer bland, but curt and imperious. "I should like to see this brother-in-law of Bolton’s, so show me in!"
Mrs. Lovelace turned before him and scurried down the passage like a startled hen.
Lord Saltash strode after--a figure of medium height, sudden of movement, unimposing of carriage, yet withal possessing that nameless something that denotes high breeding. It was said that there was a strain of royal blood in the Burchester family, and this member of it had long been dubbed "the merry monarch" by his intimates. There was about him an inherent arrogance that no one dreamed of resenting, so essentially was it a part of himself.