"Our debts are increasing," I said. "Have you thought of any way of
paying them?"
I had feared that my question might irritate him. To my relief, he
seemed to be diverted by it.
"The payment of debts," he replied, "is a problem that I am too poor to
solve. Perhaps I got near to it the other day."
I asked how.
"Well," he said, "I found myself wishing I had some rich friends.
By-the-bye, how is your rich friend? What have you heard lately of
Mr. Mountjoy?"
"I have heard that he is steadily advancing towards recovery."
"Likely, I dare say, to return to France when he feels equal to it," my
husband remarked. "He is a good-natured creature. If he finds himself
in Paris again, I wonder whether he will pay us another visit?"
He said this quite seriously. On my side, I was too much as astonished
to utter a word. My bewilderment seemed to amuse him. In his own
pleasant way he explained himself: "I ought to have told you, my dear, that I was in Mr. Mountjoy's
company the night before he returned to England. We had said some
disagreeable things to each other here in the cottage, while you were
away in your room. My tongue got the better of my judgment. In short, I
spoke rudely to our guest. Thinking over it afterwards, I felt that I
ought to make an apology. He received my sincere excuses with an
amiability of manner, and a grace of language, which raised him greatly
in my estimation."
There you have Lord Harry's own words! Who would suppose that he had
ever been jealous of the man whom he spoke of in this way?
I explain it to myself, partly by the charm in Hugh's look and manner,
which everybody feels; partly by the readiness with which my husband's
variable nature receives new impressions. I hope you agree with me. In
any case, pray let Hugh see what I have written to you in this place,
and ask him what he thinks of it.* *Note by Mrs. Vimpany.--I shall certainly not be foolish enough to
show what she has written to Mr. Mountjoy. Poor deluded Iris! Miserable
fatal marriage!
Encouraged, as you will easily understand, by the delightful prospect
of a reconciliation between them, I was eager to take my first
opportunity of speaking freely of Hugh. Up to that time, it had been a
hard trial to keep to myself so much that was deeply interesting in my
thoughts and hopes. But my hours of disappointment were not at an end
yet. We were interrupted.