"Which way did the poor boy go?" she asked him.
"I have not the slightest idea," he replied. "But put on your bonnet, if you would escape that pair of inquisitors."
"Mr. Whitford, what humiliation!"
"I suspect you do not feel it the most, and the end of it can't be remote," said he.
Thus it happened that when Lady Busshe and Lady Culmer quitted the dining-room, Miss Middleton had spirited herself away from summoning voice and messenger.
Sir Willoughby apologized for her absence. "If I could be jealous, it would be of that boy Crossjay."
"You are an excellent man, and the best of cousins," was Lady Busshe's enigmatical answer.
The exceedingly lively conversation at his table was lauded by Lady
Culmer.
"Though," said she, "what it all meant, and what was the drift of it, I couldn't tell to save my life. Is it every day the same with you here?"
"Very much."