“I’m sorry I didn’t get down to meet you, Alice,” Miss Cartwright said, “I did mean to, but business detained me.”
“Business in August!” Nora commented.
“I’m glad you didn’t,” her hostess observed. “We were disgraced by having in our merry party a smuggler who was caught with the goods and narrowly escaped Sing Sing.”
“There you go again,” Monty grumbled. “I hate the very sound of the word.”
“I say, Ethel,” Michael observed, watching her closely, “you do look a bit pale. Business in weather like this doesn’t suit you. No bad news, I hope?”
He knew that the division of the late Vernon Cartwright’s fortune was very disappointing and might narrow the girls’ income considerably.
“It turned out all right, thank you,” the girl answered nervously.
“How’s Amy?” Mr. Harrington asked. He was fond of the Cartwrights and had known them from childhood. “Why isn’t she here?”
“It isn’t to be a big party, Michael,” his wife reminded him. “Men are so scarce in August I didn’t ask Amy. She’s all right, I hope, Ethel?”
“Yes, thanks,” Miss Cartwright answered.