Hadley shrugged.
"D'ye give us leave to remain and see that these fellows show no
impudence?"
"Oh, sir, you are very obliging," says my lady superciliously.
Mr. Hadley bowed, and withdrew to the recess of a window with Sir John
following. "Here's a queer thing, Charles. Did ever you know Master
Geoffrey was a Jacobite?" Mr. Hadley shook his head. "Nor this Colonel
Boyce neither?"
"I never saw a Jacobite in so good a coat, and I never thought Geoffrey
would risk his coat for any king. And thirdly and lastly, I never knew
Whitehall put itself out in these days whether a man was Jacobite or no.
Why, damme, they be all half Jacobites themselves, from the Queen down."
"Aye, aye," says Sir John sagely. "A devilish queer thing indeed."
And on that came Alison and Harry--Alison rosy and smiling, Harry a
pale and deliberate appendage. "Dear Lady Waverton, let me present
my husband."
Lady Waverton sat up straight. Lady Waverton embraced the pair of them
with a bewildered glare.
"I married him this morning," Alison laughed.
"Alison, this is unmaidenly jesting," said my lady feebly.
"Why, if it were, so it might be. But the truth is, it's unmaidenly
truth. For I am Mrs. Harry Boyce. Give me joy."
"Joy!" my lady gasped. "It's unworthy! It's cruel! Oh, Geoffrey,
Geoffrey! How dare you?" She was again understood to faint.
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