"Shall I get you an ice?" said her partner, sullenly.
"No, no, thank you," replied Kate, shaking her head rather mournfully, as she remembered the last time a similar question had been put to her; and taking her seat near the Colonel, who was standing with Langley and Galliard; she dismissed Tuckett, junior, with a gracious inclination of the head.
Soon after, the Colonel complaining of fatigue, and Kate, glad to escape her good-humoured host's frequently expressed wish that she would 'polkar,' took her leave of the soirée. Langley and Galliard attended them to the carriage, which awaited them.
"Mr. Langley tells me he saw our friend Egerton's name, in some paper, promoted to a majority," said the Colonel.
"Did he! oh, where?" cried Kate.
"It was in the Gazette, I took it up while waiting for Lord H— —, whose portrait I am painting."
"What did it say?" asked Kate, folding her shawl round her.
"Oh,—'The Honourable Frederic Egerton to be Major in the Lancers, without purchase, vice,' some one, I forget the name, 'deceased.'"
"I dare say it cost him some hard cash, though it is there stated 'without purchase;' I understand all that. Come, Kate. Good night, Mr. Langley. Bon soir, monsieur, au plaisir de vous voir," said the Colonel.
The Frenchman bowed profoundly, and they drove away.