This was a lie. The delay was caused by stoppage nearer home—at the widow Mainwaring’s cottage.
“Well, I hope you have had a pleasant party?”
“Passable.”
“That all? And such weather. Who was there?”
“Oh, for that matter, there was company enough—half of Bucks and Berkshire, I should think, to say nothing of a score of snobs from London.”
“Any of our neighbours?”
“Well—no—not exactly.”
“It’s a wonder the widow Mainwaring—”
“Oh, yes, she was there. I didn’t think of her.”
“The daughter, of course, along with her?”