"
At that moment, Betty, the awkward Welsh serving lass, with a fore-arm
about as shapely as the hind leg of an elephant, and a most unpleasing
habit of snorting audibly as she moved, shuffled in with the tea-tray.
In her wake came the slim Elizabeth, to whom Lady Honoria was
introduced.
After this, conversation flagged for a while, till Lady Honoria, feeling
that things were getting a little dull, set the ball rolling again.
"What a pretty view you have of the sea from these windows," she said in
her well-trained and monotonously modulated voice. "I am so glad to have
seen it, for, you know, I am going away to-morrow."
Beatrice looked up quickly.
"My husband is not going," she went on, as though in answer to an
unspoken question. "I am playing the part of the undutiful wife and
running away from him, for exactly three weeks. It is very wicked of
me, isn't it? but I have an engagement that I must keep. It is most
tiresome."
Geoffrey, sipping his tea, smiled grimly behind the shelter of his cup.
"She does it uncommonly well," he thought to himself.
"Does your little girl go with you, Lady Honoria?" asked Elizabeth.
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