Part 26 (1/2)

”It's only a Cinderella affair,” pleaded Dinah. ”To-morrow's Sunday, you know. There'll be no dancing to-morrow.”

”And a good thing too,” he commented. ”A pity Sunday doesn't come oftener! What will Lady Grace say I wonder?”

”But Rose is sure to dance,” urged Dinah.

”I'm not so sure of that, Sir Eustace Studley has been teaching her to ski all the afternoon, and if she isn't tired, she ought to be.”

”Oh, lucky Rose!” Dinah knew an instant's envy. ”But I expect she'll dance all the same. And--and--I may dance with him--just once, mayn't I?

There couldn't be any harm in just one dance. No one would notice that, would they?”

She pressed close to the Colonel with her pet.i.tion, and he found it hard to refuse. She made it with so childlike an earnestness, and--all his pomposity notwithstanding--he had a soft heart for children.

”There, be off with you!” he said. ”Yes, you may give him one dance if he asks for it. But only one, mind! That's a bargain, is it?”

Dinah beamed radiant acquiescence. ”I'll save all the rest for you.

You're a dear to let me, and I'll be ever so good. Good-bye!”

She went, flitting like a b.u.t.terfly up the stairs, and the Colonel smiled in spite of himself as he watched her go. ”Little witch!” he muttered. ”I wonder what your mother would say to you if she knew.”

Dinah raced breathless to her room, and began a fevered toilet. It was true that she possessed nothing suitable for ballroom wear; but then the dance was to be quite informal, and she was too happy to fret herself over that fact. She put on the white muslin frock which she had worn for dinner ever since she had been with the de Vignes. It gave her a fairylike daintiness that had a charm of its own of which she was utterly unconscious. Perhaps fortunately, she had no time to think of her appearance. When she descended again, her eyes were still s.h.i.+ning with a happiness so obvious that Billy, meeting her, exclaimed, ”What have you got to be so cheerful about?”

She proceeded to tell him of the glorious afternoon she had spent, and was still in the midst of her description when Sir Eustace came up and joined them.

”I thought you would manage it,” he said, with smiling a.s.surance. ”And now how many may I have? All the waltzes?”

Dinah's laugh rang so gaily that several heads were turned in her direction, and she smothered it in alarm.

”I can only give you one,” she said, with a great effort at sobriety.

”What? Oh, nonsense!” he protested, his blue eyes dominating hers. ”You couldn't be so shabby as that!”

Dinah's chin pointed merrily upwards. The situation had its humour. It was certainly rather amusing to elude him. She knew he had caught her far too easily the night before.

”It's all I have to offer,” she declared.

”Meaning you're not going to dance more than one dance?” he asked.

She opened her laughing eyes wide. ”Why should it mean that? You're not the only man in the room, are you?”

Sir Eustace's jaw set itself suddenly after a fas.h.i.+on that made him look formidable, albeit he laughed back at her with his eyes. ”All right--Daphne,” he murmured. ”I'll have the first.”

Dinah's heart gave a little throb of apprehension, but she quieted it impatiently. What had she to fear? She nodded and lightly turned away.

All through dinner she alternately dreaded and longed for the moment of his coming to claim that dance from her. That haughty confidence of his had struck a curious chord in her soul, and the suspense was almost unbearable.

She noticed that Rose was very serene and smiling, and she regarded her complacency with growing resentment. Rose could dance as often as she liked with him, and no one would find fault. Rose had had him all to herself throughout the afternoon moreover. She knew very well that had the ski-ing lesson been offered to her, she would not have been allowed to avail herself of it.

A wicked little spirit awoke within her. Why should she always be kept thus in the background? Surely her right to the joys of life was as great as--if not greater than--Rose's! With her it would all end so soon, while Rose had the whole of her youth before her like a pleasant garden in which she might wander or rest at will.