'Oh, Cuthbert!' exclaimed Stella, her face radiant, as she hastened to join him.
'No; your brother cannot be here till the evening. It is Ted.'
Stella's face flushed, but it did not escape Laurette's keen gaze that with this deepening colour the sudden radiance of gladness died away.
'He is so delighted to find that you are here. I hadn't time to say three words when he sent me off for you. I must interview the cook about luncheon. You will find Ted in the breakfast-room.'
There was something in Laurette's tone and manner which Stella greatly resented; but it was, on the whole, easier to ignore this than call it in question.
Edward Ritchie met her in the hall, and took both her hands in his with so eager and impassioned an air that Stella instinctively stepped back and drew her hands quickly away, saying lightly, to hide her confusion:
'At last I shall know whether you have been in Egypt or Central Australia.'
'You look thinner than you used to, Stella,' said the young man, so absorbed in gazing at her that it seemed as though he heard nothing.
'And you—you have grown stouter. Yes, really, Ted, you remind one of the beauties in the Arabian tales.'
'Like the beauties! Oh, come now, Stella, draw it mild. What kind of beauties were they?'