"Yes, mother."
They went downstairs together.
Alex was acutely conscious of a certain maternal pride and tenderness, such as she had not experienced from Lady Isabel since the first days of her return from Liège, when she had finally left school. She did not let herself speculate to what such unusual emotion might portend.
But at the sight of Noel Cardew, better-looking than ever in evening clothes, a chaotic excitement surged up within her in anticipation of their last evening together.
Almost as she sat down beside him at the dinner-table, she said piteously, "I wish we weren't going away tomorrow."
"You're not?"
"Oh, yes. Didn't you know?"
"I hadn't realized it," said Noel, and although she avoided looking at him, she noted with a feeling of triumph the dismay in his voice.
"Oh, I say! What a shame. Must you really go?"
"We're going to pay two more visits and then leave Scotland altogether."