Then-- "I was busy," he said rather shortly.

"I'm one of the stewards." He scrawled his initials across her card and left her again.

Audrey concluded in her girlish way that something had made him cross, and dismissed him from her mind.
When at length he came to claim her she was hot and tired and suggested sitting out.
He frowned at the idea, but, upon Audrey waxing imperious, he yielded.
They sat out together, but not in the cool dark of the veranda as she had anticipated, but in the full glare of the ballroom amidst all the hubbub of the dancers.
Audrey was annoyed, and showed it.
"I am sure we might find a seat on the veranda," she said.
But Phil was obstinate.
"I assure you, Mrs.Tudor," he said, "I looked in there just now, and every seat was occupied." "I don't believe you are telling the truth," she returned.
He raised his eyebrows.
"Thank you!" he said briefly.
Something in the curt reply caught her attention, and she gave him a quick glance.

He was looking remarkably handsome in his red and gold uniform with the scarlet cummerbund across his shirt.

Vexed as she was with him, Audrey could not help admitting it to herself.