“Miss Abbeway is still here, of course?”
“Naturally. I asked her for a week, and I think she means to stay. We talked for an hour after tea this afternoon, and I found her most interesting. She has been living in England for years, it seems, down in Chelsea, studying sculpture.”
“She is a remarkably clever young woman,” Julian said thoughtfully, “but a little incomprehensible. If the Princess Torski is her aunt, who were her parents?”
“Her father,” the Countess replied, “was Colonel Richard Abbeway, who seems to have been military attache at St. Petersburg, years ago. He married a sister of the Princess Torski’s husband, and from her this young woman inherited a title which she won’t use and a large fortune. Colonel Abbeway was killed accidentally in the Russo-Japanese War, and her mother died a few years ago.”
“No German blood, or anything of that sort, then?”
“My dear boy, what an idea!” his mother exclaimed reprovingly. “On the contrary, the Torskis are one of the most aristocratic families in Russia, and you know what the Abbeways are. The girl is excellently bred, and I think her charming in every way. Whatever made you suggest that she might have German blood in her?”
“No idea! Anyhow, I am glad she hasn’t. Who else?”
“The Bishop,” his mother continued, “looking very tired, poor dear! Doctor George Lennard, from Oxford, two young soldiers from Norwich, whom Charlie asked us to be civil to—and the great man himself.”
“Tell me about the great man? I don’t think I’ve seen him to speak to since he became Prime Minister.”
“He declares that this is his first holiday this year. He is looking rather tired, but he has had an hour’s shooting since he arrived, and seemed to enjoy it. Here’s your father.”