"
But here the two women effusively hurried her away from the dangerous
proximity of such sympathetic honesty, and a moment later Mainwaring
heard her laughing voice, as of old, ringing in the kitchen. And then,
as if unconsciously responding to the significant common sense that lay
in her last allusion to him, he went to his room and grimly began his
packing.
He did not again see Louise alone. At their informal luncheon the
conversation turned upon the more absorbing topic of the Sharpes'
discovery, its extent, and its probable effect upon the fortunes of
the locality. He noticed, abstractedly, that both Mrs. Bradley and her
cousin showed a real or assumed scepticism of its value. This did
not disturb him greatly, except for its intended check upon Minty's
enthusiasm. He was more conscious, perhaps,--with a faint touch of
mortified vanity,--that his own contemplated departure was of lesser
importance than this local excitement. Yet in his growing conviction
that all was over--if, indeed, it had ever begun--between himself and
Louise, he was grateful to this natural diversion of incident which
spared them both an interval of embarrassing commonplaces. And, with
the suspicion of some indefinable insincerity--either of his own or
Louise's--haunting him, Minty's frank heartiness and outspoken loyalty
gave him a strange relief.
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