I felt stunned, and almost dazed. If anyone had spoken to me, I think I
should have been dumb, unable to answer; but nobody did speak, or seem
to think it strange that I had nothing to say.
"I suppose you won't try to do anything until after lunch, will you,
Mountstuart?" Lord Robert went on to ask.
"No, we must eat, and talk things over," said Uncle Eric.
We went into the restaurant, I moving as if I were in a dream. Ivor
accused of murder! What had he done? What could have happened?
But I was soon to know. As soon as we were seated at a table, where the
lovely, fresh flowers seemed a mockery, Aunt Lil began asking questions.
For some reason, Uncle Eric apparently did not like answering. It was
almost as if he had had some kind of previous knowledge of the affair,
of which he didn't wish to speak. But, I suppose, it could not have been
that.
It was Lord Robert who told us nearly everything; and always I was
conscious that he was watching me, wondering if this were a cruel blow
for me, asking himself if he were speaking in a tactful way of one who
had been his rival.
"There was that engagement of Dundas' last night, which he was just
going to keep when we saw him," said Lord Bob, carefully, but clumsily.
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