Just as they had finished, Captain Audley came in with his boys, on their way to start off the Somervilles by the train, and it was agreed that when he took his son back to school at Stoneborough, Felix and Lance should come with him and spend the day.
And a pleasant day it was, as pleasant as the unsettled wanderings of a long day in a strange place could be, and memorable for one curious fact—namely, that for the first time in her life Gertrude May was shy!
Not with Lance. She had a good deal of pastime with him in the cool garden, while Felix was being walked over the school-yards in the sun; and they were excellent friends, though Ethel certainly had a certain repugnance to the discovery of how big a boy it was with whom Gertrude had danced bare-footed on the rocks. Of course Ethel was the kindly mistress of the house as usual, but she was worn and strained in spirits just then, and disinclined to exert herself beyond the needful welcome to her father's guests. So she let them all go out, and went on with her own occupations, thinking that it was well that Daisy should take her part in entertaining guests, since 'that boy' was evidently a thorough little gentleman; and then shrinking a little as she heard their voices over Aubrey's museum, including the Coombe Hole curiosities.
No, it was not towards Lance that Daisy was shy; but when all sat round the dinner-table, she was unusually silent, and listened to the conversation far more than was her wont, though it was chiefly political. When Felix spoke to her, she absolutely coloured rosy red and faltered, unable to conquer the shamefacedness that their encounter had left her; and when the party had taken leave, and she was standing in the twilight, Ethel, to her great surprise, found the child quietly crying.
'Nothing!' she said, angry at being detected.
'It can't be nothing.'
'Yes, it is. Only I do so hate—hate myself for being a tom-boy!'
'One often does go on with that a little too long; and then comes the horrible feel.'
'And that it should have happened with him of all people in the world!'
'Ah, Daisy, I wish I had come out with you!'