“Effie? Oh, she was here just now. We were playing tennis against Mr. Dumaresq. We beat him, but I don’t believe he played up,” and she threw a sparkling glance towards Ronald who was strolling up with Guy perched on his shoulder. “Then Guy wanted to play, and Effie sat down; I thought she was here still.”
“The Miss Murchisons came and asked her to go down the town with them in their carro, and hear the band play at the Casino,” said Miss Adene, looking up from her sketch. “There, Sheila, will that do? It is the best I could get—he is a restless little mortal.”
“Oh, but you have got him delightfully!” cried Sheila, taking the sketch-book, her face alight with pleasure. “Oh, isn’t it just that pretty way of his when he tries to hit the ball, and laughs all over his dear little face! See, Lady Dumaresq, isn’t it good? But you can’t have it, for Miss Adene has promised it to me. You know you did, didn’t you—the first good sketch you could catch of him?”
Lady Dumaresq smiled and patted Sheila’s cheek.
“You will make my boy quite vain by your open admiration, my dear; you must remember that he is not quite a baby, and can understand a good deal of what is said.” She looked up at the girl, and then her glance fell upon the Cossarts, and she seemed to divine that something was amiss.
With ready tact she turned to them and said—
“Will you not join us at tea? It is just coming out. We prefer having it brought here to going to the drawing-room; and the people are very kind about indulging us. We want to talk to you about a plan for to-morrow or the next day. We feel we have been idle long enough. We were thinking of taking the excursion to Camacha, and were hoping you would join us. Your daughter seemed pleased with the plan.”
There was something about Lady Dumaresq’s graceful and gracious manner that Mrs. Cossart could never resist. The frown faded from her brow, and she took the seat Ronald brought for her, preparing to be responsive, though she could not forget her regret in Effie’s absence; for naturally Sheila and Ronald consorted together, and they evidently had an infinite number of little jokes in common, and it seemed to her that little Guy made a very strong link between them.
“You know Camacha is a quaint little village lying behind that wooded hill we look at to the right,” said Lady Dumaresq indicating the direction. “It is one of the easy excursions, and it is much more often free from rain cloud than other places in the island. It is about two hours distant, whether we take horses or hammocks or a light carro. We think a picnic up there would be very agreeable. It will be a pleasure to us if your party will join us. The weather is so settled again just now that we feel we ought to take advantage of it.”
“Very kind, I am sure,” said Mr. Cossart heartily. “We shall be delighted to join you. I think I and my old lady had better have a carro, and perhaps two yoke of bullocks, and take the luncheon baskets with us. I suppose you young people will all ride. So would I have done at your age!”