And so charming was the spectacle, so exhilarating were the
youth and beauty of the pair, that Ashe presently suspected what was
indeed the truth, that most of the persons gathering in the room were
there to watch Kitty dance, rather than to dance themselves. He himself
watched her, though he professed to be talking to his hostess, a woman
of middle age, with honest eyes and a brow of command.
"It is a delight to see Lady Kitty dance," she said to him, smiling.
"But she is tired. I am sure she wants the country."
"Like my boy," said Ashe. "I wish to goodness they'd both go."
"Oh, I know it's hard to leave the husband toiling in town!" said his
companion, who, as the daughter, wife, and mother of politicians, had
had a long experience of official life.
Ashe glanced at her--at her face moulded by kind and scrupulous
living--with a sudden relief from tension. Clearly no gossip had reached
her. He lingered beside her, for the sheer pleasure of talking to her.
But their
tete-a-tete was soon interrupted by the approach of Lady
Parham, with a daughter--a slim and silent girl, to whom, it was
whispered, her mother was giving "a last chance" this season, before
sending her into the country as a failure, and bringing out her younger
sister.
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