Page:The little blue devil (IA littlebluedevil00mackiala).pdf/261

him there at half-past three. But there was no sign of him when she arrived punctually, and for more than three hours she waited for him in the stuffy little parlour. Nervousness succeeded her annoyance at being kept waiting so long. Something must have happened to him—no meeting could have kept him so late, and he had said himself that they ought to start for home long before four o’clock. She was just setting out for the Frasers’ again, to ask advice, when he appeared, smiling, and with no appearance of having hurried.

“I’m real sorry to have kept you waiting such a while,” he said. “I couldn’t help myself. First of all the meeting dragged itself out to twice its usual length, and then I had to drive with a man to see a property—a mile out, he said, but it was much more. Have you waited here all this time?”

“There was nothing else to do.” Pamela was not appeased. He surely could have sent her some message. “We shall be horribly late back,” she added.

“Oh, we can’t possibly get back to-night—nuisance, isn’t it? But it’s far too late to start now—I never risk that nasty piece of road past Fuller’s Flat after dark. Lion and Selim will have a good rest, that’s one thing, and so will you. This place isn’t very grand, but it’s comfortable enough.”

“You—we shall stay here, then?”

“Of course. I’ll go and tell them to take you up to a room, and then we’ll have something in the way of food. And Mrs. Flanigan, the landlady, is a friend of mine—a real good sort. I’ll get her to lend you something for the night, so you’ll be as right as possible.”

He disappeared. Pamela, in the small room allotted to her, decided that it was no use letting him see how angry she was at the whole affair. She would say as little to him as possible on any subject.