Eustace could never quite remember how he got through the evening of
that eventful day. Everything connected with it seemed hazy to him. As,
however, fortunately for the reader of this history, we are not
altogether dependent on the memory of a young man in love, which is
always a treacherous thing to deal with, having other and exclusive
sources of information, we may as well fill the gap. First of all he
went to his club and seized a “Red-book,” in which he discovered that
Lord Holmhurst’s, or, rather, Lady Holmhurst’s, London house was in
Hanover-square. Then he walked to his rooms in one of the little
side-streets opening out of the Strand, and went through the form of
eating some dinner; after which a terrible fit of restlessness got
possession of him, and he started out walking. For three solid hours
did that young man walk, which was, no doubt, a good thing for him, for
one never gets enough exercise in London; and at the end of that time,
having already been to Hammersmith and back, he found himself
gravitating towards Hanover-square. Once there, he had little
difficulty in finding the number. There was a light in the drawing-room
floor, and, the night being warm, one of the windows was open, so that
the lamp-light shone softly through the lace curtains. Eustace crossed
over to the other side of the street, and, leaning against the iron
railings of the square, looked up. He was rewarded for his pains, for,
through the filmy curtain, he could make out the forms of two ladies,
seated side by side upon an ottoman, with their faces towards the
window, and in one of these he had no difficulty in recognising
Augusta. Her head was leaning on her hand, and she was talking
earnestly to her companion. He wondered what she was talking of, and
had half a mind to go and ring, and ask to see her. Why should he wait
till to-morrow morning? Presently, however, better counsels prevailed,
and, though sorely against his will, he stopped where he was till a
policeman, thinking his rapt gaze suspicious, gruffly requested him to
move on.
To gaze at one’s only love through an open window is, no doubt, a
delightful occupation, if a somewhat tantalising one; but if Eustace’s
ears had been as good as his eyes, and he could have heard the
conversation that was proceeding in the drawing-room, he would have
been still more interested.
Augusta had just been unfolding that part of her story which dealt with
the important document tattooed upon her shoulders, to which Lady
Holmhurst had listened “ore rotundo.”
“And so the young man is coming here to-morrow morning,” said Lady
Holmhurst; “how delightful! I am sure he looked a very nice young man,
and he had very fine eyes. It is the most romantic thing that I ever
heard of.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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