to look as if there were some justification for Lawrence's suspicions,
and for the first time she experienced serious fears for the future.




CHAPTER VII

THE EXCURSION

Carrissima could not make up her mind. When she set forth to Charteris
Street to help in the entertainment of Phoebe's extremely juvenile
guests, she was determined not to go near Golfney Place the following
day. Seeing her amongst the children no one would have imagined that
she had a sorrow in the world; she was the life and soul of the
youthful party, and finally returned to Grandison Square in a
becomingly dishevelled condition in time for dinner.

The following morning Colonel Faversham went to the hall at eleven
o'clock, wearing a flower in his buttonhole. Carrissima accompanying
him dutifully to the door, remarked that he had a new top hat.

"Do you think it suits me?" he asked, turning to face her. "Not too
much brim, Carrissima?"

"It looks a trifle small," she answered.

"Small--nonsense! A man doesn't want a hat to come down over his eyes.
I'm not a fogy yet, I hope."