As Mrs. Horncastle sat at luncheon in the great dining-room, a little
pale and abstracted, she saw Mrs. Barker sweep confidently into the
room, fresh, rosy, and in a new and ravishing toilette. With a swift
glance of conscious power towards the other guests she walked towards
Mrs. Horncastle. "Ah, here you are, dear," she said in a voice that
could easily reach all ears, "and you've arrived only a little before
me, after all. And I've had such an AWFUL drive to the Divide! And only
think! poor George telegraphed to me at Boomville not to worry, and his
dispatch has only just come back here."
And with a glance of complacency she laid Barker's gentle and forgiving
dispatch before the astonished Mrs. Horncastle.
CHAPTER VIII.
As the day advanced the excitement over the financial crisis increased
at Hymettus, until, in spite of its remote and peaceful isolation,
it seemed to throb through all its verandas and corridors with some
pulsation from the outer world. Besides the letters and dispatches
brought by hurried messengers and by coach from the Divide, there was
a crowd of guests and servants around the branch telegraph at the new
Heavy Tree post-office which was constantly augmenting. Added to the
natural anxiety of the deeply interested was the stimulated fever of the
few who wished to be "in the fashion." It was early rumored that a heavy
operator, a guest of the hotel, who was also a director in the telegraph
company, had bought up the wires for his sole use, that the dispatches
were doctored in his interests as a "bear," and there was wild talk
of lynching by the indignant mob.
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