"Well, are we ready? The people will be coming directly--we told them four. Some of Jim's friends appear to have come early, judging from the group of what seem to be boys he has with him at the end of the lawn." "So I see. Jim's friends have hours of their own--they don't care what time people put on cards. Mother, I'm worried about Dorothy." "Doesn't the dress fit?" "Perfectly!--and the hat; and the hairdressing is a complete success. She looks lovely, as I told her she would do--she's certain to cut me out." "I don't think you're afraid of that." Frances sighed. "I'm not--if only for the simple reason that she won't even try." "Doesn't she want to come down?" "It's so provoking; she's not a bit like my Dorothy--at least, in a way she isn't. I can't think what's the matter with her. She seems to be a bundle of nerves. I hardly dare open my mouth for fear of saying something which will make her jump." "She does seem to be more sensitive than, from your description of her, I expected; I've noticed it myself." "My darling mumkins, she's not the same girl. Something's wrong with her--I can't think what--and I daren't ask." "She doesn't seem to be an easy person to ask questions of." "She used to be; we used to tell each other every single thing; we used to delight in answering each other's questions; but now---- I believe she's bewitched, I really do!" "What do you mean by she's bewitched?" "Why, she's--she's so strange; she gives me the feeling that only her body's here, while she is somewhere else; it--it really is uncanny. She never speaks unless you speak to her, and when you speak to her she doesn't listen. You can see she tries to listen; then, when you're in the middle of a sentence, you find that she's paying not the slightest attention to you, and that she's staring at something in such a way that you turn, with a start, to see whatever it can be; and you have quite an uncomfortable feeling when you discover that, whatever it is she's looking at, it's something which you can't see." "Did you say she doesn't want to come down?" "I didn't say so; but she doesn't. She makes me really cross; it is so annoying! There she is, looking a perfect picture: she has only to show herself to take the people by storm. I had no idea she was so pretty! And she says she would rather stay indoors, after all the trouble I have taken with her, because she doesn't feel like seeing anyone." "My dear Frances, she is your guest; it is her feelings you must consult, not yours." "Of course! All the same, if we were at the convent I should pick her up and plank her down right in the very middle of the lawn; I shouldn't care for her tantrums; she'd get the fresh air if she got nothing else. As it is, I don't mean to let her have all her own way, if I can help it." "I don't doubt that, or it wouldn't be you."