CHAPTER ELEVEN THE LAUREL AND THE ROSE
"And some say, that it was at that time Pyrrhus answered one, who rejoiced with him for the victory they had won: If we win another of the price, quoth he, we are utterly undone."
Plutarch: "Pyrrhus."
The season ended in a riot of sound and colour before Jack received his promised report on the "Children's Party." In the last week of July Bertrand Oakleigh gave a dinner in Princes' Gardens to celebrate Deryk Lancing's engagement to Mrs. Dawson and Loring's to Miss Hunter-Oakleigh. It was Jack's first public appearance outside a club since the Ross House ball, and he was riddled with questions by his friends, who wanted to know whether he had been ill and, if not, why he had been in hiding for two months. Before dinner began, he escaped into a corner and asked if there was any hope of seeing Loring privately before he went to Monmouthshire.
"I should like a talk with you some time," he added.
"Yes, I know you would," Loring answered, smiling a little wistfully. "I'm taking Vi down immediately after lunch to-morrow, but, if you care to come round to-night——? We'll get away as soon as we can, and, after I've taken her home, I'm at your service for as long as you like."
"Thanks. I'll be at your place between half-past eleven and twelve. When are you going to be married?"
"At the beginning of September, if there's no hitch. I see from to-night's papers that there's every possibility of a row between Austria and Servia, which is a bore, because we wanted to spend our honeymoon in Dalmatia."