Page:Neith Boyce--The bond.djvu/72

70 in the drawing-room, Teresa changed her dress for a white, short-waisted one, put a necklace of green stones round her bare throat, braided her hair in two braids and coiled it round her head, and, returning, she took one of the Major's white roses and stuck it in the braid just over her left ear.

"All this just for me? " said Mrs. Boulter. "I must go and make myself pretty, too—or, at least, presentable."

She disappeared into Teresa's bedroom, down the hall. Teresa was poking up the fire when the sound of a key in the outer door made her turn and smile, her eyes suddenly bright and soft.

Basil came in with the slam that usually announced him, flinging his hat and coat on a seat in the hall.

"Hello!" called Teresa. "Thought you weren't coming back."

"Hello, kid," he responded cheerfully. He appeared, with two parcels, which he deposited on a table; then came over and kissed his wife ardently, touching the rose in her hair, and the curve of her neck.

"Changed my mind," he said. "In fact, I met a man and asked him to dinner here."

Teresa's pleased smile faded a little.

"Did you? I'm afraid there isn't much dinner," she said.