'
'I am sorry that I lost the privilege of your company.'
'I suppose you lost your luncheon, which was of more importance,' said
Maulevrier.
'Will you have some tea?' asked Mary, who looked more womanly than usual
in a cream-coloured surah gown--one of her Sunday gowns.
She had a faint hope that by this essentially feminine apparel she might
lessen the prejudicial effect of Maulevrier's cruel story about the
fox-hunt.
Mr. Hammond answered absently, hardly looking at Mary, and quite
unconscious of her pretty gown.
'Thanks, yes,' he said, taking the cup and saucer, and looking at the
door by which he momently expected Lady Lesbia's entrance, and then, as
the door did not open, he looked down at Mary, very busy with china
teapots and a brass kettle which hissed and throbbed over a spirit lamp.
'Won't you have some cake,' she asked, looking up at him gently, grieved
at the distress and disappointment in his face. 'I am sure you must be
dreadfully hungry.'
'Not in the least, thanks. How came you to be entrusted with those
sacred vessels, Lady Mary? What has become of Fraeulein and your sister?'
'They have rushed off to St.
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