"I say, Mrs. Halton, we might have one more game," said Lord Lindfield; "it's only half-past ten. Couldn't sleep if I had to finish up with such a whacking."
Jeannie's eyes were a-sparkle with enjoyment and triumph.
"Have a game with Daisy," she said. "Let me rest on my laurels."
Daisy shook her head.
"Not to-night," she said. "I really would rather not. Do play again, Aunt Jeannie. I am going to bed; I am, really."
"Fifty, then, Lord Lindfield," said Jeannie.
Daisy went straight up to her room, still making an effort to banish the thought that Aunt Jeannie had said she was tired, and slowly the house grew quiet. The steps of men going to their rooms tapped along the polished boards of the corridor outside, with now and then the rustle of a dress. Then all was still, and she sat, half-undressed, with a book on her lap that she was not reading, while a couple more quarters chimed from the clock above the stables. At last came the sound of steps again outside; the tap of a rather heavy tread, and with it the rustle of a dress. Then came Lindfield's laugh, merry and unmistakable.
"Good-night, Mrs. Halton," he said. "I've had a perfectly ripping time! Never enjoyed a day more."
Apparently she had gone down the passage some way, for her voice sounded more distant.
"And I also," she said. "Good-night."