"Couldn't you go and speak to her, and bring her over here?" asked Alex wistfully.
Noel looked at her, surprised.
"I don't think I can do that. She wants to skate."
"Of course not," broke in Lady Isabel. "Don't be a little goose, Alex. What do you want her for?"
"Oh, nothing," Alex replied dejectedly, and also very crossly.
She was in the frame of mind that seeks a grievance, and her nerves were far more overstrained than she realized.
She felt a sudden, absolute anger when Noel said didactically:
"I don't think it would be very good manners for me to go and force myself on Mrs. Goldstein's notice. I don't know her at all well, and there are heaps of people who want to talk to her—just look at all those fellows!"
"You might do it just to please me," muttered Alex, less from coquettery than from injured pride.
Noel became rather red, and after a minute he remarked in a severe voice: