He was astonished at himself afterwards for taking his rebuff so meekly, and submitting to what, after all, was rather a preposterous regulation.

He was aware that he would not have submitted to any one but Rosalind, or possibly Armstrong.

Why he should do so to her he did not particularly know; unless it was because he felt it would be pleasanter on the whole to have her as a friend than as a foe.
When, three days later, Mr Armstrong neither appeared nor communicated with any member of the household, the uneasiness which his prolonged absence caused found expression in several different ways.

Miss Jill cried in a corner; Miss Rosalind tossed her head and painted fiercely; Roger, already pulled down with a return of his cough, moped in his own room; while his mother, impressed by the growing indignation of her cousin, began to work herself into a mild state of wrath.

Tom alone was serene.
"I expect he's having a jolly time with that French chap," he volunteered at the family dinner.
"With whom ?" inquired his father pricking his ears.
"Oh, a chum of his; not half a bad sort of cove, only he dropped all his `h's.' He turned up at Christy's, you know, but missed the best break- down, while he and Mr Armstrong were hob-nobbing outside.