She gaped, and leaned to one end of the sofa until, on the point of overbalancing' she recovered herself with a prodigious bounce.

The floor vibrated at her every movement.

At last she could keep silence no longer.
"Oh, dear!" she said, yawning audibly.

"It must be five o'clock at the very earliest." Agatha turned round upon the piano-stool, feeling that music and Lady Brandon were incompatible.

Sir Charles, for his guest's sake, tried hard to restrain his exasperation.
"Probably your watch will tell you," he said.
"Thank you for nothing," said Jane.