"Still, the tickets will have been sold, and if it does rain the people
who can't get into the big billiard room can sit out in couples in the
hall, which will probably please them just as well. We, however, mean to
have it outside if we can. We want the limelights for the tableaux and
costume dancing."
"Who have you got to dance?" said Tony with evident concern.
"Miss Clavier--the young woman who pleased everybody that night at
Darsley. The vicar doesn't mind. Have you very strong objections to
skirt dancing, Tony?"
"No," said Tony slowly, and Nettie fancied his voice was a trifle
strained. "Of course I haven't. Still, you must not depend too much on
me. I mean I'll get the limelights, and buy as many tickets as can be
reasonably expected of me, but whether I'll be there or not is another
affair. I have to go up to London now and then, you see."
The last was so evidently an inspiration that Hester laughed as she
glanced at him. "We will contrive to fix a night that will suit you,"
she said. "I fancy you had better submit quietly, Tony."
Tony murmured something which was not wholly flattering to the promoters
of such entertainments, and when he and Violet Wayne took their leave
Hester glanced at Nettie.
"I wonder why Tony is anxious not to meet Miss Clavier again," she said.
As it happened, Nettie was asking herself the same question, but she
decided that there was nothing to be gained by mentioning it.
"The girl who dances! You think he didn't want to meet her?" she said.
"Of course! He showed it. Everybody can tell what Tony is thinking. He
is almost painfully transparent."
"Well," said Nettie slowly, "I don't quite know. I have come across
other men like him and found that they take one in. You fancy you can
look right through them, and yet you see very little of what is inside
them."
"The trouble is that there is nothing in Tony except good nature," said
Hester.
Nettie appeared reflective, and once more expressed herself in the same
fashion. "I don't quite know. Still, I hope you are right," she said.
"You see, I'm quite fond of Violet Wayne."