How much better she had liked him, even in his victory of the evening, than in the carping sarcastic mood of the afternoon! In spite of gayety and expectation, however, she felt her courage fail her a little as she left her room and ventured out into the big populous house.

Her solitary bringing-up had made her liable to fits of shyness amid her general expansiveness, and it was a relief to meet no one--least of all, Alicia Drake--on her way down-stairs.

Mrs.Colwood, indeed, was waiting for her at the end of the passage, and Diana held her hand a little as they descended.
A male voice was speaking in the hall--Mr.Marsham giving the last directions for the day to the head keeper.

The voice was sharp and peremptory--too peremptory, one might have thought, for democracy addressing a brother.

But the keeper, a gray-haired, weather-beaten man of fifty, bowed himself out respectfully, and Marsham turned to greet Diana.