XXIV
And he had them in fact. He called the next day at the same hour, and he found the mother and the daughter together in their pretty salon. Angela was very gentle and gracious; he suspected Mrs. Vivian had given her a tender little lecture upon the manner in which she had received him the day before. After he had been there five minutes, Mrs. Vivian took a decanter of water that was standing on a table, and went out upon the balcony to irrigate her flowers. Bernard watched her a while from his place in the room; then she moved along the balcony and out of sight. Some ten minutes elapsed without her reappearing, and then Bernard stepped to the threshold of the window and looked for her. She was not there, and as he came and took his seat near Angela again, he announced, rather formally, that Mrs. Vivian had passed back into one of the other windows.
Angela was silent a moment; then—"Should you like me to call her?" she asked.
She was very peculiar—that was very true; yet Bernard held to his declaration of the day before, that he now understood her a little.
"No, I don't desire it," he said. "I wish to see you alone—I have something particular to say to you."
She turned her face toward him, and there was something in its expression that showed him that he
187
