"Oh, Val, you are a silly ass! You know quite well it 's them!"
"Them?"
"Those Lorrain boys. Do leave off rotting."
"Rotting?"
"Och! you!" cried Haidee in a black rage, and flung out of the room.
CHAPTER XVII
THE WAYS OF BOYS
"For every grain of wit a grain of folly."
All the same, Val and Harry were beginning to say to each other, "What next?"
It was a great relief that the Lorrain boys, most correctly dressed and apparently laced in their best corsets, came very ceremoniously to call that afternoon. They were accompanied by two ladies. One was Mademoiselle Celine Lorrain, the other the Comtesse de Vervanne, who had come to spend part of the summer with them. Upon being introduced to the latter, Val and Mrs. Kesteven, who knew what they knew about a chic lighthouse and a lady's ankle, exchanged a fleet glance that was not without humour.