"I am so delighted you have come," said the good-natured lady; "for I do think Violet is quite triste and needs a little excitement."
They were standing on the lawn chatting, and Leicester glanced up at the upper windows expecting to see a blind down.
"Miss Mildmay not well?" he asked.
"Yes," said Mrs. Mildmay. "But a little low spirited, I think. She will brighten up when she hears that you are here. James," and she called to a footman who was passing, "please ask Miss Violet to come down."
But Violet did not need any information.
She saw the group approach from her window, and as Leicester's long limbs strode across the lawn her heart beat violently.
"He has come for another flirtation, has he?" said the mortified, suffering girl. "Well, he shall not be disappointed. He shall see that two can play at his contemptible game."
So saying she thrust a camellia in her glossy hair, called a smile, perhaps the first artificial one she had ever forced, to her beautiful face, and stole down the stairs, bursting upon the group like a vision of Oriental beauty.
Leicester advanced, but Violet passed him and went to kiss Ethel. Then she shook hands cordially with Bertie, added a blush when repeating the salutation for Lord Fitz, and pretended to have forgotten that Leicester had not received a word.