“It’s not your fault,” he replied, and the unsmiling negligence of his manner bore witness to the ease with which he and Louise could fit into each other’s mood.
“It won’t last much longer,” she said. “It” referred to the house party, but Dare chose to misinterpret.
“No,” he replied, “I’m going to Japan.”
Her eyes fell. When she raised them again she noticed, with a chill, that Mrs. Windrom, from the opposite corner, had been watching their tête-à-tête with hawklike vigilance.
“Come and dance,” she said, drawing him toward the hall.
There another little shock was in store for her. Alice Eveley, flushed and flattered after a dance with Jack Wallace, was proceeding across the room, when suddenly she stopped short and chose a new direction.
On looking towards Alice’s abandoned goal to see what had caused her to change her mind, Louise observed that Keble and Miriam were absorbed in an unsmiling tête-à-tête of the kind that had made Mrs. Windrom feign a sudden interest in Mrs. Brown’s cameo brooch.
She raised her arms for her partner’s embrace, and was swept into the dance.