“Quite!” said Mrs. West. “Quite!” But she said the ridiculous word as though for once she understood, and there was a comfortable little silence between them for a few minutes. Then the men came in, and the evening went by quickly enough with games and music. Captain Garrett proved to be the possessor of a very fair tenor, together with a knack of vamping not unmelodious accompaniments. The cheery songs floated out into the hall, where Bride and Katty crouched behind a screen, torn between delight and nervousness.
“If the Ould Thing was to come she’d have the hair torn off of us,” breathed Katty. “But ’tis worth the rishk. Blessed Hour, haven’t he the lovely voice?”
“He have—but I’d rather listen to Miss Norah,” said Bride loyally. “’Tisn’t the big voice she do be having, but it’s that happy-sounding.”
It was after ten o’clock when Norah, having said good-night to her guests and shown Mrs. West to her room, went softly along the corridor. A light showed under Miss de Lisle’s doorway, and she tapped gently.
The door opened, revealing the cook-lady’s comfortable little sitting-room, with a fire burning merrily in the grate. The cook-lady herself was an extraordinarily altered being, in a pale-blue kimono with heavy white embroidery.
“I hoped you would come,” she said. “Are you tired? Poor child, what an evening! I wonder would you have a cup of cocoa with me here? I have it ready.”
She waved a large hand towards a fat brown jug standing on a trivet by the grate. There was a tray on a little table, bearing cups and saucers and a spongecake. Norah gave way promptly.
“I’d love it,” she said. “How good of you. I was much too excited to eat dinner. But the souffle was just perfect, Miss de Lisle. I never saw anything like it. Mrs. West raved about it after dinner.”
“I am glad,” said the cook-lady, with the rapt expression of a high-priestess. “Allenby told me how you arranged for a hot spoon. It was beautiful of you: beautiful!”
“Did he tell you how hot it was?” Norah inquired. They grew merry over the story, and the spongecake dwindled simultaneously with the cocoa in the jug.