Mr. Rylands, utterly confounded, pattered headlong downstairs again, and disappeared with Mr. Mainwaring, still apologising.
Lady Adela tapped Connie playfully but heavily upon the cheek. ("Like being tickled by a mastodon" wrote that lady to her husband a short time later.)
"Constance dear," she said, with a reproving smile, "you are incorrigible. Now let us sit down and have a cosy chat."
The incorrigible one sat submissively down upon the sofa and waited. She knew that her hostess had not rendered the hall a solitude for nothing.
Presently the cosy chat began. Not too suddenly, though. Lady Adela first enquired after the health of Mr. Carmyle, and expressed regret that he had been prevented from accompanying his wife to The Towers.
"He was sent for about his wretched canal," explained Connie. "But he saw me off at Waterloo, and promised to come down on Monday if he could get away."
"Is it the first time you have been parted?" asked Lady Adela.
"Yes," said Connie, in quite a small voice.
Her hostess, suddenly human, patted her hand.
"The time will soon pass, dear," she said. "You will find this house quiet but soothing. I like it much better than town myself. Mr. Mainwaring is no trouble, and things are so cheap. The only drawback is Sylvia. She dislikes the people about here."