Chapter SixSerena came slowly down the Grand Staircase.
It was the sixth night since her arrival at Mandrake, but she was still unable to conquer her shyness and it swept over her in a full flood tide as she reached the Great Hall and saw a large company of guests through the open door of the Silver Drawing Room.
The Silver Drawing Room and the ballroom opening out of it, which had been designed by Robert Adam, were in themselves awe-inspiring, but Serena felt that she would have become used in time to the magnificence and exotic luxury of Mandrake if it had not been for the people who visited the place in such numbers.
Yet, although they were so many, it seemed to her that they were in many respects so similar as to be individually almost unidentifiable.
The men were nearly all middle
