CHAPTER XXRay found that she was not to be allowed to see Lila until after lunch. Lady Dryden was emphatic.
‘You can stay with her the whole afternoon if you like. She is not to be left alone. Mary Good is with her now—the nice woman who comes out from Emsworth. Lunch will be ready, and you must come in. If we do not have proper meals we shall all break down, and that won’t help anyone.’
They had lunch, and Ray made herself eat. Miss Silver produced a marvellous line of small trite observations about the countryside. Ray was always to remember her remarking that she considered it draughty, and that changes in the weather were more noticeable than they were in a town.
They were a party of five. Eric Haile took the head of the table. Watching his assured manner and air of being very compl
