"I think it is partly the sea," she said, putting her hand gently on his sleeve. "When one is sitting quite alone here in the evening with nothing to do and no one to talk to, one hears it so plainly--it is almost frightening. You know, Robin, old boy, I don't care for Pendragon very much. I only came here because of you--and now--if you never come to see us----" She stopped with a little catch in her voice. Her hand fastened on his sleeve; their heads were very close together and her hair almost brushed his cheek. He really was an awful brute, but at the same time it was rather nice--that she should care so much. It would be terrible for her when he told her what was in his mind. She might even get very ill--he had read of broken hearts often enough; and she was extraordinarily nice just now--he didn't want to hurt her. But still a fellow must think of his career, his future, and that sort of thing. Mrs. Feverel entered--ponderous, solemn, dressed in a black silk that trails behind her in funereal folds. Her hands were clammy to the touch and her voice was a deep bass. She said very little, but sat down silently by the window, forming, as she always did, a dark and extremely solid background. Robin hated and feared her. There was something sinister in her silence--something ominous in her perpetual black. He had never heard her laugh. Dahlia was laughing now. "I'm a selfish brute, Bobby," she said, "to bother you with my silly little complaints when we want to be cheerful. We'll have a good time this evening, won't we? We'll sing some of those Rubinstein's duets after dinner, and I've got a new song that I've been learning especially for you. And then there's your father; I do want to hear all about him so much--he must be so interesting, coming from New Zealand. Mother and I saw a gentleman in the town this morning that we thought must be him. Tall and brown, with a light brown moustache and a dark blue suit. It must be splendid to have a father again after twenty years without him." Her voice dropped a little, as though to refer gently to her own fatherless condition. Mrs. Feverel, a dark shadow in the window, sighed heavily. "Oh! the Governor!" said Robin, a little irritably. "No! It's rather difficult--he doesn't seem to know what to do and say. I suppose it's being in New Zealand so long! It makes it rather difficult for me." He spoke as one suffering under an unjust accusation. It was bad luck, and he wondered vaguely why Dahlia had been so interested; why should she care, unless, and the idea struck him with horror, she already regarded him as a prospective father-in-law?