“You seem to be thinking rather hard. Are you meditating upon Lorraine’s trouble, or my suggestion, that it is unlikely she could endure a whole week of you, unadulterated?” “Both,” with a humorous glance at her. “I’m thinking it would be interesting to find out the truth in both cases.” “Well, you won’t do that. Lorraine never tells her troubles. Not even to me. And she’s too tender-hearted to hurt your feelings on the other question.” “I’m not afraid of that.” His face grew a little brighter, and, as if satisfied with the result of his cogitations, he changed the subject. “What’s making you so ratty tonight? Is it the faithless swain?” “I don’t know what you mean.” “Perhaps you haven’t seen the evening paper.” “I haven’t. I’m sick to death of papers by six o’clock.” “Well, you oughtn’t to have missed it tonight, and then you’d have had the pleasure of seeing the announcement of the faithless swain’s engagement to the rich heiress.” Hal bit her lip suddenly, and felt her blood run cold, but she kept her outward composure perfectly, and merely commented: “Oh, you mean about Sir Edwin Crathie and Miss Bootes!… that’s very old news.” “Well, it was only in the paper tonight anyhow; and only given as a rumour then. I was going to ask you if it is true. They say he’s in the dickens of a mess for money. But of course you know all about it.” He was enjoying himself now, feeling that he was getting a little of his own back, and it made him unconsciously merciless. “It must have been rather a trying moment when you had to break to him that you couldn’t possibly pay any of his debts, and that therefore you must part?” “I don’t know anything about his debts. They don’t interest me. I can beat him at golf, playing level, and that’s far more to the point.” “Then you are going to play golf with him, while Miss Bootes bears his proud name in return for paying his debts! Sure, it sounds a nice handy arrangement for him.” Then Hal got up. “I don’t want to _talk_ to you, because you are talking such drivel; and I don’t want to _look_ at you, because your pink and white and blue and gold irritate me beyond words, so you’d better go and stand in the middle of the room for the benefit of those who delight to gaze; and I’ll go in search of a refreshingly ugly person who can talk sense!” Hermon gave a low chuckle of enjoyment, and continued to chuckle to himself until she was lost to sight and his hostess was introducing some charming débutante to him. The débutante was pink and white and blue and gold likewise, and gazed up at him adorably under long curling lashes; but he might have expressed a fellow-feeling with Hal, for he found himself merely bored, and longed to go in search, not of a refreshingly ugly person, but of the refreshingly irritable, snappy, unappreciative one who had just left him. When at last he was free, however, he found Hal had complained of a headache and gone home early, unattended. CHAPTER XXXII