Here, at the loo-table places were eagerly
snapped up, Henry Ocock and his stepmother being among the first to
secure seats: both were keen, hard players, who invariably re-lined
their well-filled pockets.
It would not have been the thing for either Mahony or his wife to take a
hand; several of the guests held aloof. John had buttonholed old Devine;
Jinny and Agnes were still lost in domesticities. Dear little Agnes had
grown so retiring of late, thought Mary; she quite avoided the society
of gentlemen, in which she had formerly taken such pleasure. Richard and
Archdeacon Long sat on the verandah, and in moving to and fro, Mary
caught a fragment of their talk: they were at the debatable question of
table-turning, and her mental comment was a motherly and amused: "That
Richard, who is so clever, can interest himself in such nonsense!"
Further on, Zara was giving Grindle an account of her voyage "home," and
ticking off the reasons that had led to her return. She sat across a
hammock, and daintily exposed a very neat ankle. "It was much too sleepy
and dull for ME! No, I've QUITE decided to spend the rest of my days in
the colony."
Mrs. Devine was still perched on her ottoman. She beamed at her hostess.
"No, I dunno one card from another, dearie, and don' want to. Oh, my
dear, what a LOVELY party it 'as been, and 'ow well you've carried it
h'off!"
Mary nodded and smiled; but with an air of abstraction. The climax of
her evening was fast approaching.
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