Her face faded into an aspect of deep distress when she saw what had
happened. "Oh no, Giles," she said, with extreme pathos; "certainly
not. Why do you--say that when you know better? You EVER will
misunderstand me."
"Indeed, that's not so, Mrs. Fitzpiers. Can you deny that you felt out
of place at The Three Tuns?"
"I don't know. Well, since you make me speak, I do not deny it."
"And yet I have felt at home there these twenty years. Your husband
used always to take you to the Earl of Wessex, did he not?"
"Yes," she reluctantly admitted. How could she explain in the street
of a market-town that it was her superficial and transitory taste which
had been offended, and not her nature or her affection? Fortunately, or
unfortunately, at that moment they saw Melbury's man driving vacantly
along the street in search of her, the hour having passed at which he
had been told to take her up. Winterborne hailed him, and she was
powerless then to prolong the discourse. She entered the vehicle
sadly, and the horse trotted away.