"I should so like to have a few words with you by-and-by, if you don't mind waiting till these girls are gone," murmured Mrs. Tregonell.
"Very well, my dear; get rid of them as soon as you can, for I've some people coming to dinner, and I want an hour's sleep before I put on my gown."
The little assembly dispersed within the next quarter of an hour, and Christabel joined Jessie in the smaller drawing-room.
"You can shut the folding-doors, Belle," said Mrs. Tregonell, carelessly. "You and Jessie are sure to be chattering; and I want a quiet talk with Lady Cumberbridge."
Christabel obeyed, wondering a little what the quiet talk would be about, and whether by any chance it would touch upon the play last night. She, too, had been struck by the significance of the dowager's tone; and then it was so rarely that she found herself excluded from any conversation in which her aunt had part.
"Now," said Mrs. Tregonell, directly the doors were shut, "I want to know why Christabel should not have been allowed to see that play the other night?"
"What!" cried Lady Cumberbridge, "don't you know why?"
"Indeed no. I did not go with them, so I had no opportunity of judging as to the play."
"My dear soul," exclaimed the deep voice of the dowager, "it is not the play—the play is well enough—it is the woman! And do you really mean to tell me that you don't know?"
"That I don't know what?"