The Colonel grunted.
"If it had not been for the accident, I should have been back almost in time."
"Well, another day, pray remember," said the Colonel shortly. "I expect punctuality at meals, whatever else you choose to do. Have some more turkey?"
"No, thank you."
The Colonel gave himself a second bountiful supply, not without sundry muttered strictures, of which "rags" was the only word which reached Dorothea.
Even the "plum-pudden" failed to console him. It had fallen into three parts—the result, he contended, of the fifteen minutes' delay. Everything was spoilt, as he had predicted! The worst Christmas dinner he had had for years!
Dorothea could only listen patiently till dinner was over, and the Colonel took himself off.
[CHAPTER V]
DOLLY'S JOURNAL