Rowena took a seat by her, but Di Dunstan seized hold of her.
"Here I am! The bad half-penny back again! I came this morning, and Allan Graeme joined me at Euston, so we've been fellow companions all the way. Also Hawtry Norris; do you know him? I've only met him once at the Graemes'—but it seems that he and Mr. Ross ran a ranch together once."
Di was looking very handsome in a dark blue cloth costume with fur trimming. Her fair hair and fresh complexion were set off by the sombreness of her gown. Captain Graeme was delighted to see Rowena again:
"We owe your husband a grudge for carrying you off to these lonely wilds," he said. "Several have been asking 'Where is that bright, jolly girl with the Saxon name, that used to be about town so much with Mrs. Burke?' And I've answered sadly, 'Married and done for.'"
"Do I look done for?" Rowena demanded; then Hector came up and introduced Mr. Norris to her and a Sir William and Lady Bampford. Sir William had been the English Minister at Panama. He was a thin, wiry little man, a great talker; his wife was a silent, stately woman, who seemed rather out of her element in Hector's free and easy household. The only other guest was a young widow, a Scotch cousin of the Rosses, a Mrs. McClintock.
They were all in very good spirits, and Hector was standing a good deal of chaff about his "ancestral halls."
"I own it isn't up to much at present," he said, looking round his rather empty hall with a grimace of disgust. "The last tenant took away everything with him, and my aunt and I have just got a few things together from Glasgow for the time being. I'll furnish it in good style later on."
"What style do you call good?" asked Mrs. McClintock.
"My own, of course. And I shall go in for simplicity and comfort and not have Birmingham suits of armour, and sham tapestry, and faked bronzes. If I haven't the real article—and I haven't—I shan't counterfeit them."
"You've got a few bearskins of your own," said Mr. Norris. "I should have them stuffed and placed about the hall. Try a few natural attitudes. They would keep away burglars, perhaps."