They went down together.
“Curry,” said June, sniffing the air critically. “The colonel will be pleased; he’s always telling us how they used to make curry in India, poor old chap! Though I don’t think any of us really believe that he’s ever been there.”
But the colonel was not there.
“He’s ill,” so young Harley told the two girls as they sat down at their table. “I went up to see him this morning, and he really looks ill.”
“You don’t look in exactly rude health yourself,” said June in her blunt fashion. She noticed that Harley looked at Esther a great deal, and she made up her mind to tell him at the earliest opportunity that Esther was engaged. June scented romance everywhere.
“They are the first violets I have seen this year,” Esther was saying, looking at a little bunch the young man wore in his coat.
He took them out eagerly and laid them down beside her plate.
“Do have them, will you? I never wear flowers really, but a girl in the street begged me to buy them.”
Esther took them up eagerly.