"Nothing could be worse, Vixen."
"Then the telegram was to order the carriage to meet you, I suppose?"
"Of course. We telegraphed from the Grosvenor at nine o'clock this morning. Who would imagine that you would be out of doors at such an hour?"
"I am not often out so early. But something happened this morning to put me out of temper, and I went for a ramble."
"A ramble lasting from ten in the morning till half-past four in the afternoon," remarked Captain Winstanley, with his gaze still fixed upon empty space. "Rather a long walk for a solitary young lady."
Vixen appeared unconscious that anyone had spoken. Roderick Vawdrey felt a burning desire to kick the new master of the Abbey House.
"Shall I pour out your tea, mamma?" asked Vixen meekly.
"If you like. I am utterly prostrate. To have no carriage to meet me on such an occasion! I daresay everybody in the Forest knows all about it by this time. When I came home from my honeymoon with your poor papa, the joy-bells rang all the afternoon, and the road was lined with people waiting to get a glimpse of us, and there were floral arches——"
"Ah, mamma, those things cannot happen twice in a lifetime," said Vixen, with irrepressible bitterness. "One happy marriage is as much as any woman can expect."
"A woman has the right to expect her own carriage," said Captain Winstanley.