Bruff. Whoever
he was, he was still talking to himself. I parted the heavy curtains the
least little morsel in the world, and listened.
The words I heard were, "I'll do it to-day!" And the voice that spoke
them was Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite's.
CHAPTER V
My hand dropped from the curtain. But don't suppose--oh, don't
suppose--that the dreadful embarrassment of my situation was the
uppermost idea in my mind! So fervent still was the sisterly interest I
felt in Mr. Godfrey, that I never stopped to ask myself why he was
not at the concert. No! I thought only of the words--the startling
words--which had just fallen from his lips. He would do it to-day. He
had said, in a tone of terrible resolution, he would do it to-day. What,
oh what, would he do? Something even more deplorably unworthy of him
than what he had done already? Would he apostatise from the faith? Would
he abandon us at the Mothers'-Small-Clothes? Had we seen the last of
his angelic smile in the committee-room? Had we heard the last of his
unrivalled eloquence at Exeter Hall? I was so wrought up by the bare
idea of such awful eventualities as these in connection with such a man,
that I believe I should have rushed from my place of concealment, and
implored him in the name of all the Ladies' Committees in London to
explain himself--when I suddenly heard another voice in the room.
Pages:
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453