Brooks hesitated.
"I suppose so," he answered. "Your mother can have her friends out here, though. It really is only a short drive to Medchester."
"She won't have them oftener than I can help," Selina declared, doggedly. "Old Mrs. Mason called the other day when Captain Meyton and Mrs. Malevey were here. It was most awkward. But I don't know why I tell you all these things," she declared, abruptly. "Somehow I always feel that you are quite an old friend."
Selina's languishing glance was intercepted by one of her admirers from the barracks, as she had intended it to be. Brooks went off to play his shot and returned smiling.
"I am only too happy that you should feel so," he declared. "Your father was very kind to me."
"Isn't it almost a pity that you didn't stay in Medchester, Mr.
Brooks?" Selina remarked, with a faint note of patronage in her tone.
"Papa is so much more influential now, you know, and he was always so
fond of you."
"It is rather a pity," Brooks remarked, with twinkling eyes. "One can't foresee these things, you know."
Selina felt it time to bestow her attention elsewhere, and the game soon came to an end. The girls glanced at the clock and reluctantly withdrew.
"Remember, Miss Bullsom, that we are relying upon you to-morrow," the younger of the two officers remarked, as he opened the door. "Two o'clock sharp—but you lunch with Mrs. Malevey first, don't you?"
"We shan't forget," Selina assured him, graciously. "Good-night."