“Good God!” said Lord Charles.
Lady Katherine came in. She walked with short steps and peered amiably through the cigarette smoke.
“Imogen, darling,” she whispered.
“Aunt Kit!”
The Lampreys kept their heads admirably. They told Lady Katherine how delighted they were to see her and seated her by the fire. They introduced Roberta to her, teased her gently about her lame ducks and, with panic-stricken glances at each other, asked her to remove her raincoat.
“So nice to see you all,” whispered Lady Katherine. “Such luck for me to find the whole family. And there’s Michael home for the holidays and grown enormously. Patricia too. And the twins. Don’t speak, twins, and let me see if I can guess. This is Stephen, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Aunt Kit,” said Colin.
“There! I knew I was right. You got my note, Imogen darling?”
“Yes, Aunt Kit. We’re so pleased,” said Charlot.
“Yes I wondered if you had got it because you all looked quite surprised when I walked in. So I wondered.”