"Can't we have a group on the terrace now? Do let me do a group on the terrace—the light will be just right now."
"Dear boy, you really mustn't become a nuisance with that camera of yours—though he's really extraordinarily clever at it," said his mother, in a perfectly audible aside.
"Would it bore you all very much to be victimized? You won't keep us sitting in the glare too long, will you, dear boy?"
Almost every one protested at the suggestion of being photographed, but while a good many of the gentlemen of the party disappeared noiselessly and rapidly before the group could be formed, all the ladies began to straighten their hats, and pull or push at their fringes. Noel kept them waiting in the hot sun for what seemed a long while, and Alex reflected rather gloomily that Mrs. Cardew showed a tolerance of his inconvenient passion for photography that would certainly not have been approved by her own parents.
At last it was over, and Sadie jumped up, crying, "Now we can have some proper games! What shall we play at?"
"Don't get over-heated," her aunt said, smiling and nodding as she moved away.
"Do you like croquet?" Diana asked, and to Alex' disappointment they embarked upon a long, wearisome game. She was not a good player, nor was Barbara, but Cedric surprised them all by the brilliant ease with which he piloted Marie Munroe and himself to victory.
"I say, that's jolly good!" Eric and Noel said, and gazed at their junior with respect.
Alex felt pleased, but rather impatient too, and wished that it were she who was distinguishing herself.
When they played hide-and-seek, however, her opportunity came. She could run faster than any of the other girls at Liège, and when Diana suggested picking up sides, she added good-naturedly: