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Show was almost · .... "What's the matter?" asked his ~ .. ----""-::.. ·: ~-wife. "These infernal blacks- " he began. "There! There! That '11 do." He suddenly leaned forward and pushed the boy roughly away from the table. The boy started, cast an angry look at him, and went off muttering to himself. "I can't stand these fellers! Vermin!" said Sir Claude, with a sort of irrepressible passion. Lady Wyverne said nothing. It was the first time her husband had ever behaved like this in her presence. She wondered whether he was only over-tired or whether there was another reason for his unusual conduct. His outburst against the Arabs made her tremble again. ..a t the thought of her imprudence. She felt that the knowledge that his wife had coquetted- to use no other word-with an Arab surreptitiously would let loose upon her a new man, a man whom she had never known and of whom she would be terrified. But he could know nothing. If he did he would have spoken, have acted at once. "Crumpet" might be violent, even terrible. She realized that now. But surely he could never be subtle. And yet she could not quite riel herself of uneasiness, of doubt. He had not kissed her. He had not yet \ called her by her name. And there was surely something aloof in his manner, a detachment from her that was unusual. "What about to-day?" she asked, ~-- making a strong effort to seem lively and cheerful. "Are we going on to -· Beni-Mora ?" \~ - He busied himself with an egg, |
