III
It was Sunday morning. John Drayton sat just inside the tent, presumably enjoying his pipe before the heat of the day. His eyes furtively followed his wife as she moved about near him, some times passing close to his chair in search of something she had mislaid. There was colour in her cheeks; her eyes, though preoccupied, were bright; there was a lightness and buoyancy in her step which she set to a little dancing air she was humming under her breath.
After a moment or two the song ceased, she began to move slowly, sedately; and as if chilled by a raw breath of air, the light faded from her eyes, which she presently turned towards her husband.
"Why do you look at me?" she asked suddenly.
"I don't know, my dear," he began, slowly and laboriously as was his wont. "I was thinkin' how nice you looked—jest now—much better you know—but somehow"—he was taking long whiffs at his pipe, as usual, between each word, while she stood patiently waiting for him to finish—"somehow, you alter so, my dear—you're quite pale again all of a minute."
She stood listening to him, noticing against her will the more than suspicion of cockney accent and the thick drawl with which the words were uttered.
His eyes sought her face piteously. She noticed that too, and stood before him torn by conflicting emotions, pity and disgust struggling in a hand-to-hand fight within her.
"Mr. Broomhurst and I are going down by the well to sit; it's cooler there. Won't you come?" she said at last gently.
