"
"You are amazingly considerate; but I really cannot forgive you for having
deferred your return to the last moment. You have quite spoilt Geraldine's
evening, to say nothing of the odd look your absence must have to our
friends. I shall tell her you have arrived, and I suppose that is all I can
do. You must want some supper, by the bye: you'll find plenty of people in
the dining-room."
"No, thanks; I had some cold chicken and coffee at Carlisle. I'll ring
for a soda-and-brandy when I get to my room, and that's all I shall do
to-night. Good-night, Lady Laura; good-night, Miss Lovel."
He dropped lightly across the balcony and vanished. Lady Laura stood in
the window for a few moments in a meditative mood, and then, looking up
suddenly, said,
"O, by the bye, Clarissa, I came to fetch you for another dance, the last
quadrille, if you feel well enough to dance it. Mr. Granger wants you for a
partner."
"I don't think I can dance any more, Lady Laura. I refused Captain
Westleigh the last waltz."
"Yes, but a quadrille is different. However, if you are really tired, I
must tell Mr. Granger so. What was George Fairfax saying to you just now?
You both looked prodigiously serious."
"I really don't know--I forget--it was nothing very particular,"
Clarissa answered, conscious that she was blushing, and confused by that
consciousness.
Lady Laura looked at her with a sharp scrutinising glance.
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