"
Rachel was not less fortunate in her companion of the moment which had
so nearly witnessed her undoing. Ox-eyed Hugh Woodgate saw nothing
inexplicable in Mrs. Steel's behavior upon her introduction to Sir
Baldwin Gibson, and anything he did see he attributed to an inconvenient
sense of that dignitary's greatness. He did not think the matter worth
mentioning to his wife, when the Steels had dropped them at the
Vicarage gate, after a pleasant but somewhat silent drive. Neither did
Rachel see fit to speak of it to her husband. There was a certain
unworthy satisfaction in her keeping something from him. But again she
underrated his uncanny powers of observation, and yet again he turned
the tables upon her by a sudden display of the very knowledge which she
was painfully keeping to herself.
"Of course you recognized the judge?" said Steel, following his wife for
once into her own apartments, where he immediately shut a door behind
him and another in front of Rachel, who stood at bay before the glitter
in his eyes.
"Of course," she admitted, with irritating nonchalance.
"And he you?"
"I thought he did at first; afterwards I was not so sure.
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