“Nary a governess! They wouldn’t like to come exactly at the hour you mention. Perhaps they are prowling round the Square, whiling away the time until it is polite to appear.”
“Oh dear, I wish they wouldn’t! I like things to happen at once! I get fidgety and nervous if I have to wait,” cried Mrs Vanburgh, poking the fire with such violence that the ashes were strewn all over the grate.
“Let’s pretend that you are the first-comers, and rehearse the conversation! Now then, go out of the room and come in, and I’ll welcome you.”
Cynthia and Betty dutifully retreated to the hall, whence came a sound of subdued giggling and whispering, lasting for several minutes, at the expiration of which the door was thrown open and “Miss Perks” announced in a voice shaken by laughter, whereupon Cynthia bounced into the room, transformed almost out of recognition by a few touches accomplished by Betty’s nimble fingers.
Her long mane of hair was twisted into an exaggerated “door-knocker,” at the top of which, with all the appearance of a very fly-away toque, was perched one of the frilled pink shades which covered the electric lights; a piece of Eastern drapery was folded scarf-like round her shoulders. Perk by name and Perk by nature did she appear as she minced across the room, while hostess and maid alike looked on in helpless convulsions of laughter. No rehearsal was possible under the circumstances, though Cynthia persisted in acting her part, and sat on the edge of the sofa tossing her head, and delivering herself of staccato little sentences in reply to imaginary questions suitable to the occasion.
“Oh, really! No indeed! Unusually cold for the time of year. Most kind of you, I’m sure. Charming opportunity?”
“You impertinent girl; go and put back those things this minute! How dare you make fun of me and spoil the look of my hall!” cried Nan, wiping the tears from her eyes; then she turned towards the clock, and her face fell.
“Ten minutes to four! They ought to be coming! Why don’t they come?—Now then, I told you how it would be! There’s the bell, and everything upset!”
With a bound Miss Perks was in the middle of the floor, tearing the scarf from her shoulders, and shaking her hair loose from its fastenings. Betty jumped on a chair to put the shade back in its place, Nan threw the drapery over the easel, which being done, all three rushed to the head of the staircase, and peered curiously into the hall beneath.
Once more disappointment awaited them, for a brown-paper parcel was the nearest approach to a governess which met their gaze, and the return to the drawing-room was conducted in a much more leisurely and dignified manner than the exit. For the first time the awful possibility of failure seemed to dawn on the hostess’s heart.