and his father stood regarding him with visible satisfaction, she hummed
on, turning to the young man: "But I'm quite appalled at Alice's having
monopolised even for a few minutes a whole Senior--and probably an
official Senior at that," she said, with a glance at the pink and white
club button in his coat lapel, "and I can't let you stay another instant,
Mr. Mavering. I know very well how many demands you have upon you and you
must go back directly to your sisters and your cousins and your aunts,
and all the rest of them; you must indeed."

"Oh no! Don't drive me away, Mrs. Pasmer," pleaded the young man,
laughing violently, and then wiping his face. "I assure you that I've no
encumbrances of any kind here except my father, and he seems to have been
taking very good care of himself." They all laughed at this, and the
young fellow hurried on: "Don't be alarmed at my button; it only means a
love of personal decoration, if that's where you got the notion of my
being an official Senior. This isn't my spread; I shall hope to welcome
you at Beck Hall after the Tree; and I wish you'd let me be of use to
you. Wouldn't you like to go round to some of the smaller spreads? I
think it would amuse you. And have you got tickets to the Tree, to see us
make fools of ourselves? It's worth seeing, Mrs. Pasmer, I assure you."

He rattled on very rapidly but with such a frankness in his urgency, such
amiable kindliness, that Mrs. Pasmer could not feel that it was pushing.
She looked at her daughter, but she stood as passive in the transaction
as the elder Mavering. She was taller than her mother, and as she waited,
her supple figure described that fine lateral curve which one sees in
some Louis Quinze portraits; this effect was enhanced by the fashion of
her dress of pale sage green, with a wide stripe or sash of white
dropping down the front, from her delicate waist. The same simple
combination of colours was carried up into her hat, which surmounted