"Aunt Agatha," she said.
A lady emerged from the gloom of the other chamber. She held a number of knotted skeins of coloured silk.
"I thought I heard you moving," smiled Miss Chressham, "so I finished my letter and am now at your service." Her smile deepened prettily. "How charming it will be to see Marius again," she added.
Lady Lyndwood smoothed her silks out with delicate fingers.
"I wish Rose could have been here," she answered.
Miss Chressham was ready.
"Marius has been so uncertain as to the date of his arrival, and Rose wrote he was under an engagement for to-night that he could not contrive to avoid. He is coming to-morrow."
The elder lady replied with a certain languid impatience attractively in keeping with her slender dignified grace.
"Ah, my dear, I hope he will come to-morrow; not only because of Marius—for other reasons! And now you had better call for candles."