cheme were supplied by other jewels on her fingers, her glittering
filbert nails and a diamond pendant that sparkled on the white and bony
ridge of her breastbone. The Halberton daughters, whose accents
Gabrielle had been imitating in her bedroom when she lay awake with
excitement the night before, were inclined to be friendly with her; but
as all their conversation had to do with a world of which Gabrielle
knew nothing, they did not get very far. Both of them were over thirty
and unmarried. From time to time, taking new courage, each in turn
would make a pounce on Gabrielle with some question that led nowhere,
and then flutter off again. The fact that she obviously puzzled them
amused Gabrielle, and she soon regained the confidence that the sight
of the hall porters had shaken. From time to time Lady Halberton would
turn on her a smile full of glittering teeth, and twice, apropos of
nothing, Gabrielle heard her say: "Sweet child! You must really let
her come and stay with us at Halberton, Sir Jocelyn," though the
baronet did not seem to hear what she said.

They dined _en famille_. Lord Halberton ate as gingerly as he smiled,
probably for the same reason. The party had been squared by the
addition of two young men, one of them a soldier from the Curragh,
named Fortescue, and the other a naval sub-lieutenant, named Radway.
He and Gabrielle, as the least important persons, found themselves in
each other's company, while Captain Fortescue dished up the kind of
small talk to which they were accustomed to the two Halberton girls,
Lady Halberton continuously sparkling at Sir Jocelyn and her husband
presiding over the whole function with set lips like a cataleptic.

It was Radway who saved Gabrielle from throttling herself with the
flower of a French artichoke, a vegetable with which she was
unacquainted, and in a burst of gratitude she confided to him the fact
that this was her first dinner party. From this they slipped into an
easy intimacy; easy for her because she was so thankful to find someone
to whom she could babble, and for him because she was so utterly
unguarded. It had been unusual for him to meet a girl of birth or
breeding who was not preoccupied with matrimonial possibilities; and
this creature was as frank as she was beautiful.

Radway had never been in Ireland before. The cruiser on which he
served was visiting Kingstown, and at the Horse Show he had run across
the Halbertons whom he had met when