“It is a penance; but we’re going immediately.”
“I shall disappear with you.”
“You! Why you told me a moment ago that you were obliged to dance with some protégée of Mrs Englewood’s—that she had made a point of it. And you haven’t danced with her yet, to my certain knowledge,” said the woman’s voice again.
A sort of groan was the reply.
“Why, what’s the matter?” with a light laugh.
“I had forgotten; you might have let me forget and go off with a clear conscience.”
“What is there so dreadful about it?”
“It is that girl in black I have to dance with for my sins. Such a little dowdy. I am convinced she can’t waltz. It was truly putting old friendship to the test to expect it of me. And of all things I do detest a bread-and-butter miss. You can see at a glance that this one has never left a country village before. She—”
But his further confidences were interrupted by the arrival of Mr Marrinder in search of his wife.
“You don’t care to stay any longer, I suppose?” said the new-comer.