“Of course. Run now, or you’ll miss it. I wish it wasn’t such a vile day. Listen to the wind!”
“Excellent weather for traveling. Good-by.”
He was gone, and soon afterwards Lady Kean disappeared with her hostess and Fayre was taken off by Lord Staveley to the billiard-room.
After dinner that night he gravitated as usual to Sybil Kean’s side. For a long time they discussed old friends and Fayre gradually became well posted in all that had happened during his absence.
“Tell me about Cynthia,” he said at last. “What is she like now. You’ve all been rather mysterious about her, you know.”
Sybil Kean glanced at him. There was the same spark of amusement in her eyes that he had surprised in Lady Staveley’s.
“I wonder how you’ll like her,” she said thoughtfully. “I believe you are rather old-fashioned, Hatter. She’s a very perfect specimen of the modern girl, plus extreme good looks and a charm that’s quite her own. She manages her elders perfectly, when she takes the trouble; when she doesn’t, she just goes her own way and entirely ignores us.”
“She sounds a minx,” remarked Fayre dryly.
“Oh, no, she isn’t! Besides, there are no minxes nowadays, my dear. She’s very affectionate, very loyal, and with an excellent head on her shoulders. When I say she ignores us, I simply mean that she considers her own judgment quite as good as ours and goes by it. I’m not at all sure she isn’t right.”
“Which means that she’ll ride for a fall one of these days and get it and then her elders will have to pick her up and see to the damage.”