"Very well, Lady Lufton," she said; "then I will go. Good-bye."
"Good-bye," said Lady Lufton, and turning herself to her table she
began to arrange her papers. Fanny had never before left Framley
Court to go back to her own parsonage without a warm embrace. Now she
was to do so without even having her hand taken. Had it come to this,
that there was absolutely to be a quarrel between them--a quarrel for
ever?
"Fanny is going, you know, mamma," said Lady Meredith. "She will be
home before you are down again."
"I cannot help it, my dear. Fanny must do as she pleases. I am not to
be the judge of her actions. She has just told me so." Mrs. Robarts
had said nothing of the kind, but she was far too proud to point this
out. So with a gentle step she retreated through the door, and then
Lady Meredith, having tried what a conciliatory whisper with her
mother would do, followed her. Alas, the conciliatory whisper was
altogether ineffectual.
The two ladies said nothing as they descended the stairs, but when
they had regained the drawing-room they looked with blank horror into
each other's faces. What were they to do now? Of such a tragedy as
this they had had no remotest preconception. Was it absolutely the
case that Fanny Robarts was to walk out of Lady Lufton's house as a
declared enemy--she who, before her marriage as well as since, had
been almost treated as an adopted daughter of the family?
"Oh, Fanny, why did you answer my mother in that way?" said Lady
Meredith.
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