Lady Lucy moved away, and Mr.
Ferrier, after spending a moment of quiet scrutiny on the young mistress of Beechcote, came to sit beside her.
Mrs.Fotheringham threw herself back in her chair with a little yawn.
"Mamma is more difficult than the Almighty!" she said, in a loud aside to Sir James Chide.

"One sin--or even somebody else's sin--and you are done for." Sir James, who was a Catholic, and scrupulous in speech, pursed his lips slightly, drummed on the table with his fingers, and finally rose without reply, and betook himself to the _Times_.

Miss Drake meanwhile had been carried off to play billiards at the farther end of the hall by the young men of the party.

It might have been noticed that, before she went, she had spent a few minutes of close though masked observation of her cousin Oliver's new friend.

Also, that she tried to carry Oliver Marsham with her, but unsuccessfully.