"She is very amusing," John agreed. "I have met some interesting people at her house, too. She has asked me down to Bourne End for this next week-end—the week-end you are spending with Mrs. Faraday," he continued, glancing toward Louise.
Louise nodded. She looked at John critically.
"Quite a success in town, isn't he?" she remarked to Sophy. "People tumble over one another to get invitations for her week-end parties in the season. I must say I never heard of going down to Bourne End in February, though."
"The idea seemed rather pleasant to me," John confessed. "So many of you people know nothing of the country except just in the summer!"
"If John gets talking about the country," Louise said, "we shall not be allowed our proper share in the conversation for the rest of the evening. The question is, are we to allow him to go down to Bourne End? Lady Hilda isn't exactly a Puritan where your sex is concerned, you know, John."
"She'll expect you to flirt with her," Sophy insisted.
"She won't," John replied. "I have told her that I am in love with Louise."
"Was there ever such a man in the world?" Louise exclaimed. "Tell me, what did Lady Hilda say to that?"
"Not much," he answered. "She suggested that her cousin had a prior claim on you."
Louise laid down her knife and fork. Her left hand clutched the piece of toast which was lying by her side. She began to crumble it up into small pieces.