But that doesn't keep them from being terrible
forces to come up against, especially for a proud thing like her. And
now that the postponing of the wedding has got into the papers--"
"Yes; I've seen 'em. Got it pretty straight, too, all things
considered."
"And that sort of thing simply flies. It will be in the New York papers
to-morrow, and in the London ones the day after. We always get those
things cabled over there. We know about the elopements and the queer
things that happen in America when we don't hear of anything else.
Within forty-eight hours they'll be talking of it at the Rangers' depot
in Sussex--and at Heneage--and all through his county--and at the Horse
Guards. You see if they aren't! You've no idea how people have their eye
on him. And when they hear the wedding has been put off for a scandal
they'll have at their heels all the men who've hated him--and all the
women who've envied her--"
He leaned his shoulders against the mantelpiece, his hands behind his
back. "Pooh! That sort of dog can only bark."
"No; that's where you're wrong, Peter. In England it can bite. It can
raise a to-do around their name that will put a dead stop to his
promotion--that is, the best kind of promotion, such as he's on the way
to.
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