"Of course."
Mrs. Waddington started.
"All this nonsense you have been talking has made me forget about your father. Put on your dress and go down to him at once. Reason with him! If he refuses to come in to dinner, we shall be thirteen, and my party will be ruined."
"I'll be ready in a couple of minutes. Where is he?"
"In the library."
"I'll be right down."
"And, when you have seen him, go into the drawing-room and talk to Lord Hunstanton. He is all alone."
"Very well, mother."
"Mater."
"Mater," said Molly.
She was one of those nice, dutiful girls.
3
In addition to being a nice, dutiful girl, Molly Waddington was also a persuasive, wheedling girl. Better proof of this statement can hardly be afforded than by the fact that, as the clocks were pointing to ten minutes past eight,
