"Well," he said, and he looked at her questioningly, and not liking to
tell her in so many words that he had come to Dulwich to see her, he
entered into the question of the text of the hymn, which was imperfect.
Many notes were missing, and had been conjecturely added by a French
musician, and he had wished to consult Mr. Innes about them. So a good
deal of time was wasted in conversation in which neither was interested.
Before they were aware, they were at Dowlands, and with an accent of
regret in her voice, which Owen noticed with pleasure, she held out her
hand and said good-bye.
"Are you very busy, then, are you expecting a pupil?"
"No, I have nothing to do."
"Then why should we say good-bye? It is hardly worth while getting up so
early in the morning to discuss the text of an ancient Greek hymn."
His frankness was unexpected, and it pleased her.
"No, I don't suppose it is; Greek music at eleven o'clock in the morning
would be a little trying."
A delicious sense of humour lit up in her eyes, and he felt his interest
in her advance a further stage.
"If you have nothing to do we might go to the picture gallery. There is
a wonderful Watteau--"
"Watteau at eleven, Greek hymn at one."
But she felt, all the same, that she would give everything to go to the
picture gallery with him.
"But I am not dressed, this is an old thing I wear in the morning; not
that there would be many people there, only the curator and a girl
copying at eleven in the morning."
"But is your father coming back at one?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because you said Greek hymn at one. The time will pass quickly between
eleven and one. You need not change your dress."
Then, with an expressive little glance which went straight to his heart,
she noted his fastidious dress, the mauve necktie, the perfectly fitting
morning coat buttoned across the chest, the yellow-brown trousers, and
the long laced boots, half of patent and half of tan coloured leather.
"I could not walk about with you in this dress and hat, but I sha'n't
keep you long."
While he waited he congratulated himself on the moment when he had
determined to abandon his tour round the world, and come back to seek
Evelyn Innes at Dulwich.
"She is much nicer, a hundred times more exciting than I thought.
Poetry, sympathy, it is like living in a dream." He asked himself if he
liked her better than Georgina, and answered himself that he did; but
deep down in his heart he knew that the other woman had given him deeper
and more poignant emotions, and he knit his brows, for he hated
Georgina.
Owen was the first temptation in Evelyn's life, and it carried her
forward with the force of a swirling river. She tried to think, but
thoughts failed her, and she hooked her black cloth skirt and thrust her
arms into her black cloth jacket with puffed sleeves. She opened her
wardrobe, and wondered which hat he would like, chose one, and hastened
downstairs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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