“How does he take you?” Elaine asked.
“I don’t know—sometimes I think he does, and sometimes I think he doesn’t!” she laughed. “He is an accomplished flirt and difficult to gauge.”
“Well, let me tell you one fact, for your information: there isn’t a more indifferent man in Northumberland. He goes everywhere, is in great demand, is enormously popular, yet, I’ve never known him to have even an affair. He is armor-plated—but he is a dear, a perfect dear, Davila!”
“I know it!” she said, with heightening color—and Elaine said no more, then.
“Shall you prefer to meet Mr. Croyden alone, for the first time, or in company?” Davila asked.
“I confess I don’t know, but I think, however, it would be better to have a few words with Colin, first—if it can be arranged.”
Miss Carrington nodded. “Mr. Macloud is to come in a moment before luncheon, if he can find an excuse that will not include Mr. Croyden.”
“Is an excuse difficult to find—or is any, even, needed?” 261
Elaine smiled.
“He doesn’t usually come before four—that’s the tea hour in Hampton.”