* * * * * * *
Colonel Peyton pushed back his plate, and got up from the breakfast-table.
"Well, it's a lovely day," he observed, looking out of the window. "I hope that young man will be punctual. Are you women ready?"
"Did you ever know mother late for anything, Father?" inquired Nancy calmly.
Colonel Peyton chuckled, and shook his finger at her.
"It's you I'm thinking of, miss," he said; "you're the one that will keep us waiting."
"Come along," said Mrs. Peyton, "and put your things on, darling. We mustn't keep the car standing."
Mrs. Peyton, having been brought up with horses, had never been able to rid herself of the idea that a motor became restless under such treatment.
Nancy laughed, and accompanied her mother upstairs, from which region she shortly emerged, looking bewitchingly demure and pretty in a sort of Kate Greenaway cloak and bonnet.
The Colonel, who was just struggling into his coat, gazed at her with fond approval.