"It was great fun when I did it. How I laughed!"
"I didn't laugh. She told me not to."
"Well, no. Not at first. She was quite right. And what did her brother say? Nurse said he went with you."
"Yes. We called for him, and he went with us, with a flower in his button-hole—a rose it was. He gave me one too."
Harry looked at his button-hole, as if expecting to see the rose still in it. But that sign of merry-making was absent.
Lady Louisa had on a previous occasion severely reprimanded Nurse for taking Harry to tea at her brother's house, a solicitor's clerk in Ipswich. Her spirits rose. She had detected her in an act of flagrant disobedience. And as likely as not they had all gone to a play together.
"Capital!" she said suavely. "He was just the right person to go with. That was what I said to Nurse. And what did he talk about?"
"He said, 'Mum's the word. Keep it all quiet till the old cat dies,' and he slapped me on the back and said, 'Mind that, brother-in-law.' He was very nice indeed."
A purple mark like a bruise came to Lady Louisa's clay-coloured cheeks. There was a long pause before she spoke again.
"And did you write your name nicely, like Janey taught you?" She spoke with long-drawn gasps, each word articulated with difficulty.