"Perhaps Johnnie was right, and I really don't look upon them as human beings," she thought, rather amused.
Some obscure instinct of testing herself caused her suddenly to turn and enter the sitting-room.
There was a sudden, startled silence as she stopped in the doorway, and then, almost simultaneously, the members of the staff rose to their feet.
"Oh, don't move," Char said affably.
There was an awkward pause, and then Miss Plumtree, giggling, exclaimed: "Oh, my hair! I've been washing it, Miss Vivian."
"You're all late tonight, aren't you? I fancy I generally hear you come upstairs earlier than this."
"I do hope we don't disturb you, Miss Vivian," Miss Delmege said, in a concerned voice. "I'm so often afraid that you must hear the water going in the bathroom, and all that sort of thing."
"It doesn't matter."
There was another silence. Nobody had sat down again. Miss Plumtree had clutched at her hair with both hands and was shoving it behind her ears as though in a desperate attempt to convince Miss Vivian that it was not really loose on her shoulders.
Miss Delmege put her head on one side, and gazed at Miss Vivian with a rather concerned expression of attention.