Instinctively doubting whether Mrs.Drumblade's friendly behavior was quite as sincere as it appeared to be, Isabel answered that she was a stranger to Lady Rotherfield, and was therefore quite at a loss to explain the cause of her ladyship's absence.

As she spoke, the guests began to arrive in quick succession, and the subject was dropped as a matter of course.
It was not a merry party.

Hardyman's approaching marriage had been made the topic of much malicious gossip, and Isabel's character had, as usual in such cases, become the object of all the false reports that scandal could invent.

Lady Rotherfield's absence confirmed the general conviction that Hardyman was disgracing himself.

The men were all more or less uneasy.