"Exactly," Jeanne admitted. "I went to sleep listening for footsteps. I think it was very rude of Ronald to go away without saying good-bye to me."
"You would have thought it still ruder," Cecil remarked, "if he had had you roused at five o'clock or so to make his adieux."
The Princess and Jeanne left the table together a few minutes before the other two, and Jeanne asked her stepmother a question.
"How long are we going to stop here?" she inquired. "I thought that our visit was for two or three days only."
The Princess hesitated.
"Cecil is such a nice boy," she said, "and he is so anxious to have us stay a little longer. What do you say? You are not bored?"
"I am not bored," Jeanne answered, "so long as you can keep him from saying silly things to me. On the contrary, I like to be here. I like it better than London. I like it better than any place I have been in since I left school."
The Princess looked at her a little curiously.
"I wonder," she said, "whether I ought to be looking after you a little more closely, my child. What do you do on the marshes there all the time? Do you talk with this Mr. Andrew?"
"I went with him in his boat this morning," Jeanne answered composedly. "It was very pleasant. We had a delightful sail."