" She laid her hand on
his arm. "Now we can forget them," she said. They turned, and, together,
vanished into the house. Howat Penny followed them slowly. He found
Peter Provost apparently undisturbed. "Nothing to be done," the latter
commented. "I saw that immediately he turned up. Kingsfrere made a short
effort, but it wasn't conspicuously successful; I imagine it rather
worse than failed. God knows what's getting into these young women,
Howat--Eliza and the rest of 'em--it's a gamble they don't. All right,
Kingsfrere." Jannan lingered with a dark mutter, but the other
unceremoniously drove him into the waiting car.
Mariana soon descended, with Polder carrying two bags. "One seven,"
Howat told them. In the extraordinary situation he found nothing
adequate to say. Mariana might have been going unremarkably to Charlotte
and her home; she was absolutely contained. James Polder had a dazed
expression; without his companion, Howat thought, he would blunder into
the walls. He stood, holding the bags until told to put them down.
Honduras was soon at the door. Mariana moved forward, and mechanically
Howat Penny made his customary pretence of avoiding her kiss. The warm
fragrance of her lips remained long after she had gone.
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