"Awfully good of you to come! The mater's just gone into the tea room; here's some one who knows you."
General Macdonald met Rowena's bright friendly eyes, with grave pleasure in his own.
He held out his hand to her.
"It seems a long time since we met," he said. "I have brought Mysie to town for a week or two."
Alan was seized hold of by a young girl in a startling dress of black and white striped velvet, very open at the neck and back; very short in the skirt.
"Oh, you slacker!" she exclaimed, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Don't you know that two lady loves await you in that further corner. They have sent me to fetch you. You promised to sing for one, and—"
They moved off.
General Macdonald's look of disgust made Rowena smile.
"Are you at home in this company?" he asked abruptly; "it somehow does not seem to fit you."
Then before she had time to reply he went on: