Diana talked timidly of dress, of
London, and the Season. They were the subjects on which it seemed most
natural to approach Miss Drake; Diana's attitude was inquiring and
propitiatory. But Alicia could find none but careless or scanty replies
till Madeleine Varley came up. Then Miss Drake's tongue was loosened. To
her, as to an equal and intimate, she displayed her expert knowledge of
shops and _modistes_, of "people" and their stories. Diana sat snubbed
and silent, a little provincial outsider, for whom "seasons" are not
made. Nor was it any better with Mrs. Fotheringham. At twelve o'clock
that lady brought the London papers into the drawing-room. Further
information had been received from the Afghan frontier. The English loss
in the engagement already reported was greater than had been at first
supposed; and Diana found the name of an officer she had known in India
among the dead. As she pondered the telegram, the tears in her eyes, she
heard Mrs. Fotheringham describe the news as "on the whole very
satisfactory." The nation required the lesson. Whereupon Diana's tongue
was loosed and would not be quieted. She dwelt hotly on the "sniping,"
the treacheries, the midnight murders which had preceded the expedition,
Mrs.
Pages:
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126