“You didn’t get a telegram, too?” she asked.
“No,” said Winn. “Why should I?”
“Not likely,” said James, genially. “Always behindhand in the — ”
“Damn these midges!” said Charles, hurriedly. James stopped with his mouth open.
“Army, you were going to say, weren’t you?” asked his mother, suavely. “If you are my sons I must say you make uncommonly poor liars.”
Sir Peter, whose attention had wandered to tender places in the lawn, looked up sharply.
“What’s that? What’s that?” he asked. “Been telling lies, have they? A nice way you’ve brought ’em up, Sarah! What have they been lying about? A woman? Because if they have, I won’t hear a word about it! Lies about a woman are perfectly correct, though I’m hanged if I can see how they can all three be lying about one woman. That seems a bit thick, I must say.”
To Sir Peter’s surprise, nobody made any reply. Charles yawned, James whistled, and Winn kept his eyes steadily fixed on Lady Staines.
“Those were orders then,” Lady Staines observed in a dry quiet voice. “I thought it very likely. I suppose it’s Germany. I felt sure we should have trouble with that excitable young man sooner or later. He had too good an opinion of himself to be an emperor.”
“Not Ulster!” exclaimed Sir Peter. “God bless my soul — not Ulster!”