Jean nodded comprehendingly.
“Don’t you worry,” she said. “It’s all quite easy. I stayed here with father when he brought me over from Christchurch, you know. He helped me a bit over ordering when the waiter came round—the menu is rather mixed until you get used to it. You tell your father to do the same. And I really won’t know a bit more than you, so if we make mistakes we’ll make them together, and it won’t matter!”
“You’re a dear,” said Norah, gratefully. “I say, would you mind if I go and find Dad now, and have a little talk to him? His room is quite near.”
“Of course I won’t,” said her friend. “Hurry up—it’s nearly dinner time.”
“I’ll come back for you,” Norah called, disappearing into the corridor. She hesitated a moment in the unfamiliar place—all the doors looked so exactly alike. Then from behind one came a line of a song, in Jim’s deep voice, and Wally joined in:—
“So we went strolling, down by the rolling—
Down by the rolling sea!”
It made the corridor seem suddenly homelike, and Norah broke into smiles. Beyond, her father’s number caught her eye, and she tapped at the door.
“May I come in, Daddy?”
“Certainly you may!” said David Linton, with somewhat startling emphasis, mingled with relief. “And tie this blessed evening tie!” He submitted meekly to his daughter’s ministrations. “Ridiculous!—I’m far too old to get into these clothes!”