“Now then, Mr. Heigham, we had better set to and run, that is, if Agatha has got a run left in her, or we shall be late after all.  Thank goodness nobody is hurt; but we must find a hammock for Agatha, for to judge from her groans she thinks she is.  Is my nose——­ Oh, I beg your pardon,” and Mrs. Carr stopped short, observing for the first time that he was talking to strangers.

“Do not let me detain you, if you are in a hurry.  I am so thankful that nobody is hurt,” said Lady Bellamy.  “I believe that we are stopping at the same hotel, Mr. Heigham, I saw your name in the book, so we shall have plenty of opportunities of meeting.”

But Arthur felt that there was one question which he must ask before he went on, whether or no it exceeded the strict letter of his agreement with Philip; so, calling to Mrs. Carr that he was coming, he said, with a blush,

“How was Miss Caresfoot when—­when you last saw her, Lady Bellamy?”

“Perfectly well,” she answered, smiling.

“And more lovely than ever,” added her husband.

“Thank you for that news, it is the best I have heard for some time.  Good-bye for the present, we shall meet to-morrow at breakfast,” and he ran on after the others, happier than he had been for months, feeling that he had come again within call of Angela, and as though he had never sat hand in hand with Mildred Carr.

CHAPTER XLIV

At breakfast on the following morning Arthur, as he had anticipated, met the Bellamys.  Sir John came down first, arrayed in true English fashion, in a tourist suit of grey, and presently Lady Bellamy followed.  As she entered, dressed in trailing white, and walked slowly up the long table, every eye was turned upon her, for she was one of those women who attract attention as surely and unconsciously as a magnet attracts iron.  Arthur, looking with the rest, thought that he had never seen a stranger, or at the same time a more imposing-looking, woman.  Time had not yet touched her beauty or impaired her vigorous constitution, and at forty she was still at the zenith of her charms.  The dark hair, that threw out glinting lights of copper when the sun struck it, still curled in its clustering ringlets and showed no line of grey, while the mysterious, heavy-lidded eyes and the coral lips were as full of rich life and beauty as they had been when she and Hilda von Holtzhausen first met at Rewtham House.

On her face, too, was the same expression of quiet power, of conscious superiority and calm command, that had always distinguished it.  Arthur tried to think what it reminded him of, and remembered that the same look was to be seen upon the stone features of some of the Egyptian statues in Mildred’s museum.

“How splendid Lady Bellamy looks!” he said, almost unconsciously, to his neighbour.

Sir John did not answer; and Arthur, glancing up to learn the reason, saw that he also was watching the approach of his wife, and that his face was contorted with a sudden spasm of intense malice and hatred, whilst his little, pig-like eyes glittered threateningly.  He had not even heard the remark.  Arthur would have liked to whistle; he had surprised a secret.