Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/41

 so warm that her head ached. (So warm, though her hands might have been in an iced bath!) In five minutes she would come down again. And she slipped away, as if in fear of being detained.

More than five minutes passed before she returned, but she appeared just in time to pour tea, and it was plain that she had spent the time of her absence in trying to wash the tear stains from her face. She had succeeded indifferently, but was more composed, and Terry Ricardo found Miss Verney's efforts at entertaining the guest very pathetic.

There were a great many nice things to eat; several kinds of tiny sandwiches, hot buttered muffins, little iced cakes, and strawberries, but nobody could eat, and seldom had there been less interesting talk between three intelligent people. As soon as she dared, Miss Ricardo rose.

"I'm afraid I must go," she said. "Maud will be wanting me. Milly has been detained, evidently; and if she is doing something for somebody, there's no telling when she may be back. You must say to her that I waited as long as I could; and give her Maud's love. Of course, we both hope that she'll soon come to White Fields."

This time Sir Ian did not urge Miss Ricardo to stay.

"I'll go with you as far as the lodge," he said.

They had not much to say to each other, as they walked together, and Terry kept her eyes on the