"I am sending you in with Lily," Lady Grenside continued. "She'll keep you amused. Only I felt that I must explain."
"I can't think what the fellow's doing here, anyhow," Carton remarked discontentedly. "A few generations ago we should have hung him."
"Hush!" Lady Grenside whispered. "Don't let Elisabeth hear you talk like that. Here she comes. I wonder—"
Lady Grenside stopped short. She was looking steadily at her daughter and her expression of doubt had a genuine impulse behind it. Carton was not so reticent.
"By Jove, she does look stunning!" he murmured.
Elisabeth, who seldom wore colours, was dressed in blue, with a necklace of turquoises. On the threshold she paused to make some laughing rejoinder to a man who was holding open the door for her. Her eyes were brilliant, her face was full of animation. Lady Grenside's face darkened as the unseen man came into sight. It was Maraton.
"Never saw Elisabeth look so ripping," Carton repeated. "Just my luck, not to take her in."
"To-morrow night," Lady Grenside promised.
"That's all very well," Carton grumbled. "I wish she didn't look so thundering pleased with herself."
Lady Grenside leaned a little towards him.