Her beautiful eyes were blank
or hostile; she would escape like a fawn from the hunter. As for other
politics, no one but Mrs. Fotheringham dreamed of introducing them. She,
however, would have discovered many ways of dragging them in, and of
setting down Diana; but here her brother was on the watch, and time
after time she found herself checked or warded off.
Diana, indeed, was well defended. The more ill-humored Mrs. Fotheringham
grew, the more Lady Niton enjoyed the evening and her own "Nitonisms."
It was she who after dinner suggested the clearing of the hall and an
impromptu dance--on the ground that "girls must waltz for their living."
And when Diana proved to be one of those in whom dancing is a natural
and shining gift, so that even the gilded youths of the party, who were
perhaps inclined to fight shy of Miss Mallory as "a girl who talked
clever," even they came crowding about her, like flies about a
milk-pail--it was Lady Niton who drew Isabel Fotheringham's attention to
it loudly and repeatedly. It was she also who, at a pause in the dancing
and at a hint from Mrs. Colwood, insisted on making Diana sing, to the
grand piano which had been pushed into a corner of the hall.
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