"All over," he said, declining further combat. "Play the 'Star-spangled
Banner,' Miss Erroll."
"Boom!" crashed the chord for the sunset gun; then she played the
anthem; Selwyn rose, and the children stood up at salute.
The party was over.
Selwyn and Miss Erroll, strolling together out of the nursery and down
the stairs, fell unconsciously into the amiable exchange of badinage
again; she taunting him with his undignified behaviour, he retorting in
kind.
"Anyway that was a perfectly dreadful verse you taught Billy," she
concluded.
"Not as dreadful as the chorus," he remarked, wincing.
"You're exactly like a bad small boy, Captain Selwyn; you look like one
now--so sheepish! I've seen Gerald attempt to avoid admonition in
exactly that fashion."
"How about a jolly brisk walk?" he inquired blandly; "unless you've
something on. I suppose you have."
"Yes, I have; a tea at the Fanes, a function at the Grays. . . . Do you
know Sudbury Gray? It's his mother."
They had strolled into the living room--a big, square, sunny place, in
golden greens and browns, where a bay-window overlooked the Park.
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