At the same time a man servant appeared, announcing that luncheon was about to be served. And Olive and Donald, who had been informed where the lovers were to be found, went off together to summon Ruth and Jim.
CHAPTER XXI
MIDNIGHT CONFIDENCES
A FAINT knock at her bedroom door several nights after their picnic in the woods startled Jean. It was half-past twelve o'clock, and thirty minutes before all the guests in the castle had gone to their own apartments, an informal dance having made them more tired than usual.
But Jean was not a coward, and, still brushing her hair, walked over to her door. Immediately she heard Jack's voice on the outside.
"Please let me in, Jean dear, I hope I haven't frightened you." Then Jack slipped inside and stood irresolutely in the center of the big chamber. She was ready for retiring, clad in a pink dressing gown, with her hair hanging in two braids over her shoulders.
"I was kind of lonely," she explained. "It is very grand for each one of us to have an apartment to ourselves, but I am not used to it."
She sank down on a low cushion in front of the big open fire and in a few moments was staring into it, having apparently forgotten her cousin's presence in her own room.