He received Rose’s congratulations, which were curt, with his habitual equanimity, and added, after thanking her:
“You need not be afraid that Cecil’s interests will be allowed to suffer by this, Rose.”
“I wasn’t.”
“His welfare still remains one of my first responsibilities,” said her brother-in-law suavely.
She made no answer.
A little later on, Diana Grierson-Amberly came to stay at Squires.
She was friendly to Rose, very kind to Cecil, deferentially affectionate to Sir Thomas and Lady Aviolet—but then she had been all of these things before. Equally, her manner towards Ford was almost unaltered.
Her nearest approach to an endearment was “My dear old boy,” and she displayed neither blush nor tremor at the mild, stereotyped jokes about engaged couples in which her future father-in-law occasionally indulged.
To Diana, it was evidently all relegated to the same class as that which she cheerfully and pleasantly hailed as “chaff.”
She seemed amused, if also faintly gratified, by Rose’s schoolgirl excitement.