"Now I will say good-night. I am tired, and it is getting late," I said.
"Good-night, Comtesse," and he walked to the door. "I shall be down at nine o'clock."
And so we parted.
VIII
On the morrow it had cleared up and flashes of blue sky were appearing. Augustus and Mr. McCormack had both had too much to drink the night before, at dinner, and were looking, and no doubt feeling, mixed and ill-tempered.
The morning was long after the shooters had gone. It seemed as if one o'clock, when we were to start for the lunch, would never come.
Miss Springle had some passages-at-arms with Mrs. Dodd. They had all been down to breakfast but Lady Wakely and another woman, who were accustomed to the ways of the world.
I had never seen any shooting before. The whole thing was new to me. Augustus had insisted upon selecting what he considered a suitable costume for me. We had been up to London several times together to try it on, and, on the whole, though a little outre in its checks, it is not unbecoming.
"Do you shoot, yourself, Mrs. Gussie?" Mrs. Dodd asked, when we assembled in the hall, ready to start.
"No; do you?" I replied.