"Then come back with me to the Riviera! Any English people worth studying will be found there. Change your plans! Come back with me!"
Clodagh looked up. She was uncertain whether the suggestion had been made in jest or earnest, and the smiling, searching glance of her hostess did not enlighten her. With a slight feeling of embarrassment, she broke off abruptly into another channel of talk.
"And how is Mr. Barnard?" she asked.
"Barny! Oh, optimistic as ever!"
"Then there is one amusing person left in England!"
Lady Frances laughed.
"Only temporarily. He takes his holiday next month. Last March he joined the Luards and me in Naples, and we all went on to Sicily. It was tremendous fun."
She laughed again over some recollection; and entered upon a history of her Sicilian adventures that occupied the rest of dinner.
At the termination of the meal, however, when the waiters had brought in coffee and silently retired, she dropped her reminiscent tone, and, rising from table, moved back to the divan, which was drawn pleasantly near to a bright wood fire.
"Come here, and let's be comfortable!" she said. "I always have a cigarette after dinner. I forget whether you smoke."