"Won't you return with us, Di?"
"No—I have a headache. I'll stay here in the air for a few moments."
As she spoke, Jim came towards them.
"The next is our dance, Diana. Will you come?"
Henry answered for her with unmistakable sarcasm.
"Perhaps Jim will stay with you, Di, as you have a headache."
And Jim innocently replied, "With pleasure; I've really been doing duty quite assiduously in the way of dancing."
He crossed to Diana's side. Lady Elizabeth, who had been trying to divert an awkward moment, drew her arm through Henry's. Henry looked at his mother's face, which grew tender as her eyes rested on him.
"I'm afraid my wife does not share your pleasure in my praises, mater."
"Oh yes," Diana answered, "but you must not expect a wife to have the illusions of a mother." It was lightly said, to cover up an apparent effort on Henry's part to cause an embarrassing moment.