er, who went on:
"Where in the world have you been? Did Mr. Munt find you? Who told you
where I was? Did you see me? How did you know I was here? Was there ever
anything so droll?" She did not mean her questions to be answered, or at
least not then; for, while her daughter continued to smile rather more
absently, and young Mavering broke out continuously in his nervous
laugh, and his father stood regarding him with visible satisfaction, she
hummed on, turning to the young man: "But I'm quite appalled at Alice's
having monopolised even for a few minutes a whole Senior--and probably
an official Senior at that," she said, with a glance at the pink and
white club button in his coat lapel, "and I can't let you stay another
instant, Mr. Mavering. I know very well how many demands you have upon
you and you must go back directly to your sisters and your cousins and
your aunts, and all the rest of them; you must indeed."

"Oh no! Don't drive me away, Mrs. Pasmer," pleaded the young man,
laughing violently, and then wiping his face. "I assure you that I've
no encumbrances of any kind here except my father, and he seems to have
been taking very good care of himself." They all laughed at this, and
the young fellow hurried on: "Don't be alarmed at my button; it only
means a love of personal decoration, if that's where you got the notion
of my being an official Senior. This isn't my spread; I shall hope to
welcome you at Beck Hall after the Tree; and I wish you'd let me be
of use to you. Wouldn't you like to go round to some of the smaller
spreads? I think it would amuse you. And have you got tickets to the
Tree, to see us make fools of ourselves? It's worth seeing, Mrs. Pasmer,
I assure you."

He rattled on very rapidly but with such a frankness in his urgency,
such amiable kindliness, that Mrs. Pasmer could not feel that it was
pushing. She looked at her daughter, but she stood as passive in the
transaction as the elder Mavering. She was taller than her mother, and
as she waited, her supple figure described that fine lateral curve which
one sees in some Louis Quinze portraits; this effect was enhanced by the
fashion of her dress of pale sage green, with a wide stripe or sash of
white dropping down the front, from her delicate waist. The same simple
combination of colours was carried up into her hat, which surmounted
darker hair than Mrs. Pasmer's, and a complexion of wholesome pallor;
her eyes were grey and grave, with black brows