"Indeed yes, sir," Sturry replied, conveying by these simple words some impression of the affront he had suffered. No one could feel that he would have engaged himself to wait on Nathaniel if he could have foreseen these vulgar events. It seemed reasonable to suppose that he would hand in his notice at the first opportunity.
A little damped, Joseph said: "You had better serve dinner. The master would not have wanted his guests to make any difference, would he?"
"Very good, sir," said Sturry, declining to give an opinion on this moot point.
He withdrew, but the shreds of his disapproval remained behind. Remembering the overwrought questions and exclamations which his entrance had interrupted, Nathaniel's guests felt uneasily that they had lapsed into bad form. Mottisfont cleared his throat, and remarked that one hardly knew what to do.
"I know!" Valerie said. "I mean, I've simply never dreamed of such a thing happening to me! Oh, Stephen, Mummy will be utterly furious! I do think I ought to go home!"
"The trains are very infrequent over Christmas," stated Maud. "And, of course, when there is snow they get held up.:
"Oh, I couldn't go by train!" Valerie said. "Stephen brought me in his car."
"Sorry," said Stephen. "I can't leave."
"But, Stephen, you could come back, couldn't you? I don't want to be a nuisance, or anything, but actually my nerves aren't awfully strong, and the least little thing like this upsets me for weeks! Literally!"
He returned no answer. His look of derision had given place to one of strain; even her absurdity failed to conjure up his familiar mocking devil. It was left for Roydon to respond to her. "I wish I could take you home," he said. "I can see you're one of those tremendously highly-strung people whose awareness is almost hyper-acute."