Page 340 - lady-chatterlys-lover

Chapter 16

onnie arrived home to an ordeal of cross-questioning.
CClifford had been out at tea-time, had come in just be-
fore the storm, and where was her ladyship? Nobody knew,
only Mrs Bolton suggested she had gone for a walk into the
wood. Into the wood, in such a storm! Clifford for once let
himself get into a state of nervous frenzy. He started at ev-
ery flash of lightning, and blenched at every roll of thunder.
He looked at the icy thunder-rain as if it dare the end of the
world. He got more and more worked up.
Mrs Bolton tried to soothe him.
’She’ll be sheltering in the hut, till it’s over. Don’t worry,
her Ladyship is all right.’
’I don’t like her being in the wood in a storm like this! I
don’t like her being in the wood at all! She’s been gone now
more than two hours. When did she go out?’
’A little while before you came in.’
’I didn’t see her in the park. God knows where she is and
what has happened to her.’
’Oh, nothing’s happened to her. You’ll see, she’ll be home
directly after the rain stops. It’s just the rain that’s keeping
her.’
But her ladyship did not come home directly the rain
stopped. In fact time went by, the sun came out for his last
yellow glimpse, and there still was no sign of her. The sun