“My coat, yes: in a moment!” the Earl said, moving unhurriedly towards the Hall.
An instant Theodore hesitated, waiting for the Dowager or for Martin to make some sign; then he strode forward, with his hands held out, exclaiming: “Gervase, my dear fellow! Welcome!”
Martin, his affronted stare taking in the number of the capes of that drab coat, the high polish on the Hessian boots, the extravagant points of a shirt-collar, and the ordered waves of guinea-gold hair above a white brow, muttered audibly: “Good God! the fellow’s nothing but a curst dandy!”
Chapter 2
The flicker of a quizzical look, cast in Martin’s direction, betrayed that his half-brother had heard his involuntary exclamation. Before the ready flush had surged up to the roots of his hair, Gervase was no longer looking at him, but was shaking his cousin’s hand, smiling at him, and saying: “How do you do, Theo? You see I do keep my promises: I have come!”
Theo held his slender hand an instant longer, pressing it slightly. “One year past! You are a villain!”
“Ah, yes, but you see I must have gone into black gloves, and really I could not bring myself to do so!” He drew his hand away, and advanced into the Hall, towards his stepmother’s chair.
She did not rise, but she extended her hand to him. “Well, and so you have come at last, St. Erth! I am happy to see you here, though, to be sure, I scarcely expected ever to do so! I do not know why you could not have come before, but you were always a strange, whimsical creature, and I daresay I shall not find that you have changed.”