CHAPTER FIVECharles was in a dark mood as he dressed for dinner the following evening. How could he be pleasant to people when his misery dominated his mind to the exclusion of all else? He wanted only to be left alone.
His exhilaration at seeing Cliona the previous day had abated. The thought of her saddened him. Now that he knew himself to be cut off from her by family duty, he did not even want to see her. It seemed to him as if he was caught in some terrible trap from which there was no escape. And he was resolved not to embroil her in it.
Watkins, his butler, who had been with him a long time, sensed that he was upset. He tried to cheer him up by talking of the forthcoming horse races, at which Charles, a keen racing man, was bound to have winners.
“Especially Firefly,” Watkins vol
