He left the servant
to help her into the cab. The man respectfully addressed him as
he took his seat opposite to Grace.
"I am ordered to say that your room is ready, sir, and that her
ladyship expects you to dinner."
Absorbed in the events which had followed his aunt's invitation,
Julian had forgotten his engagement to stay at Mablethorpe House.
Could he return, knowing his own heart as he now knew it? Could
he honorably remain, perhaps for weeks together, in Mercy's
society, conscious as he now was of the impression which she had
produced on him? No. The one honorable course that he could take
was to find an excuse for withdrawing from his engagement. "Beg
her ladyship not to wait dinner for me," he said. "I will write
and make my apologies." The cab drove off. The wondering servant
waited on the doorstep, looking after it. "I wouldn't stand in
Mr. Julian's shoes for something," he thought, with his mind
running on the difficulties of the young clergyman's position.
"There she is along with him in the cab. What is he going to do
with her after that?"
Julian himself, if it had been put to him at the moment, could
not have answered the question.
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