Lady Lucy also resented her too long exclusion from Alicia's confidence.
Like all the rest of the world, she believed there was an understanding
between Oliver and Alicia. Of course, there were reasons for not making
anything of the sort public at present. But a mother, she thought, ought
to have been told.
"Does Mr. Nixon recommend that Oliver should go abroad for the winter?"
asked Alicia, after a pause. She was sitting on the arm of a chair, her
slender feet hanging, and the combination of her blue linen dress with
the fiery gold of her hair reminded Lady Lucy of the evening in the
Eaton Square drawing-room, when she had first entertained the idea that
Alicia and Oliver might marry. Oliver, standing erect in front of the
fire looking down upon Alicia in her blue tulle--his young vigor and
distinction--the carriage of his handsome head--was she never to see
that sight again--never? Her heart fluttered and sank; the prison of
life contracted round her.
She answered, rather shortly.
"He made no plan of the kind. Travelling, in fact, is absolutely
forbidden for the present."
"Poor Oliver!" said Alicia, gently, her eyes on the ground.
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