‘Thank you very much,’ said Alice. ‘It’s most awfully kind of you.’
‘Not at all,’ said the girl. ‘Uncle Giles asked me to. He said you were shy, and I know how ghastly it is when you don’t know anyone.’
‘Do you mean Lord Pomfret?’ asked Alice, hardly able to believe what she heard.
‘That’s the one. Oh, I suppose you don’t know who I am. I’m Phoebe Rivers. My father is a kind of cousin of Lord Pomfret’s and my mother is Hermione Rivers that writes books. Father always lives in Herefordshire and won’t come up to London or anything, and when you see mother you won’t blame him. I say, do you mind if I use your bath? Otherwise I have to walk about a mile, and it’s no fun fighting the men for the bathroom after your first season.’
Seeing that Alice looked puzzled, Miss Rivers pulled aside a
