ing of his arrival, or the form of it, she
had too much of the making of a grande dame to be recognizant of it.
He did not know from her whether she had meant to send for him at the
station or not, or whether she had sent her carriage back for him when
he did not arrive in it at first. Nothing was left in her manner of such
slight specialization as she had thrown into it when, at the Macroyds',
she asked him down to her house party; she seemed, if there were any
difference, to have acquired an additional ignorance of who and what he
was, though she twittered and flittered up close to his elbow, after
his impersonal welcome, and asked him if she might introduce him to the
young lady who was pouring tea for her, and who, after the brief drama
necessary for possessing him of a cup of it, appeared to have no more
use for him than Mrs. Westangle herself had. There were more young men
than young women in the room, but he imagined the usual superabundance
of girlhood temporarily absent for repair of the fatigues of the
journey. Every girl in the room had at least one man talking to her, and
the girl who was pouring tea had one on each side of her and was trying
to fix them both with an eye lifted towards each, while she struggled to
keep her united gaze watchfully upon the tea-urn and those who came up
with cups to be filled or refilled.

Verrian thought his fellow-guests were all amiable enough looking,
though he made his reflection that they did not look, any of them, as if
they would set the Sound on fire; and again he missed the companion of
his arrival.

After he had got his cup of tea, he stood sipping it with a homeless air
which he tried to conceal, and cast a furtive eye round the room till
it rested upon the laughing face of Miss Macroyd. A young man was taking
away her teacup, and Verrian at once went up and seized his place.

"How did you get here?" she asked, rather shamelessly, since she had
kept him from coming in the victoria, but amusingly, since she seemed to
see it as a joke, if she saw it at all.

"I walked," he answered.

"Truly?"

"No, not truly."

"But, truly, how did you? Because I sent the carriage back for you."

"That was very thoughtful of you. But I found a delightful public
vehicle behind the station, and I came in that. I'm so glad to know that
it wasn't Mrs. Westangle who had the trouble of sending the carriage
back for me."

Miss Macroyd laughed and laughed at his resentment. "But su