He had so far buried it in a complete and magnificent silence.
The meeting between him and his hostess before dinner had been marked by
a strict conformity to all the rules. Kitty had inquired after his
headache; Lord Parham expressed his regrets that he had missed so
brilliant a party; and Kitty, flirting her fan, invented messages from
the Royalties which, as most of those present knew, the Royalties had
been far too well amused to think of. Then after this
pas seul, in the
presence of the crowded drawing-room, had been duly executed, Kitty
retired to her Bishop, and Lord Parham led forth Lady Tranmore.
* * * * *
"What a lovely moon!" said Lady Edith Manley to the Dean. "It makes even
this house look romantic."
They were walking outside the drawing-room windows, on a terrace which
was, indeed, the only feature of the Haggart facade which possessed some
architectural interest. A low balustrade of terra-cotta, copied from a
famous Italian villa, ran round it, broken by large terra-cotta pots now
filled with orange-trees. Here and there between the orange-trees were
statues transported from Naples in the late eighteenth century by a
former Lord Tranmore.
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