The women are very smartly dressed all the time, but they do not show a great sense of the fitness of things. Only Lady Grenellen and Lady Tilchester are always adorable and attractive in anything and in any way.
I believe they do not love one another very much, although they are quite friendly; one somehow can see it in their eyes.
The Tilchester boy, who is thirteen, has just gone to Eton, but will soon be home for the holidays; the little girl is at the sea. So I have not seen either of them.
The whole house here is so beautifully done; there is no fuss, and everything is exactly where one wants to find it. I shall be sorry when we leave.
Just as we had begun luncheon to-day, Sir Antony Thornhirst came in, and, after a casual greeting to every one, sat down near me.
He seems quite at home here, and as if he were accustomed to turning up unannounced in this way.
I felt such a queer, quick beating in my heart. I suppose because among all these strangers he was some one I knew before.
"So you decided not to cut the Gordian knot," he said, presently, as if we were continuing the discussion of some argument we had had a moment before.
He bridged in an instant the great gulf since my wedding. This sang froid stupefied me. I found nothing to say.
He continued: