After Luce had swept from the room, Drake remained for a minute or two
thinking the thoughts that a man must think under such circumstances;
then he went slowly down to the drawing-room.
The countess was watching and waiting for him, and she looked up at his
grave countenance anxiously as he came toward her.
"It is all right," he said, in his quiet way; "she is going at once."
His composure, the Angleford impassiveness which always came to their
aid in moments of danger and difficulty, impressed her; she drew a
breath of relief, and signed to the butler, who was hovering about
awaiting her signal. "Dinner is served, my lady," he announced solemnly;
and Drake gave the duchess his arm, and the company went into the dining
room in pairs "like the animals into Noah's Ark," as Dick whispered to
Miss Angel, who, to his great delight, he was taking in.
It was a large party, and a brilliant one. The great room in the glory
of its new adornment was worthy of the house and its guests. If the
truth must be told, Nell was at first a little nervous, though it was
not her first experience, as we know, of an aristocratic dinner party.
She was seated on the left of Drake, and on pretense of moving one of
her glasses, he succeeded in touching her hand, and, as he did so, he
looked at her as a man looks who sees joy before him and an abiding
happiness; then he turned and talked to the duchess, for he knew that
Nell would like to be left alone for a few minutes.
It was impossible for any party, however large and aristocratic, over
which the countess presided, to be dull, and very soon they were all
talking, and some of them laughing, for there were two young persons
present, at any rate, who were by no means overawed by the splendor of
the appointments or the rank of the guests. Dick would have found it
possible to be merry at a Quakers' meeting, and Miss Angel, though she
tried to preserve a demure, not to say repressive, mood, very soon
yielded to Dick's light-hearted influence; and not only she, but those
near them, were kept by him in ripples of laughter.
It was just what Drake wanted, and he looked down the table toward Dick
with approval and gratitude.
"Dick hasn't changed a bit--thank Heaven!" he said to Nell.
"Your brother's the most charming boy I've met for a very long time,"
remarked the duchess. "Of course, he will come with you and the rest to
me on the ninth. I am so glad to see Mr. Falconer here, and I hope he
will be well enough to join us!"