Barnard laughed.
"We are shocking truants!" he said gaily. "We have been dining at the 'Abbati.'"
She looked at him quickly.
"All four of you?" she asked shrewdly.
He smiled.
"You have a suspicious mind, Frances! Yes; all four of us."
Lady Frances laughed.
"No," she said. "I never harbour suspicions. It is Mrs. Milbanke's air of having just discovered some delicious secret that is always prompting me to curiosity."
"How do you manage to look so triumphant?" She turned again to Clodagh with a long, puzzled glance. "I wish you would impart the secret."
Clodagh's bright eyes met hers.