'Oh no,' Michael said. 'I was telling Rose about the party.'
'Ah, the party. Don't you think it's a good idea, Rose?'
'It's very kind of you to take the trouble to have the house upset.'
'Trouble be blowed! It's yourself and Janet will have the trouble. It's time we returned some of their kindness to John. Mrs. Parkin, for instance, has been enormously kind--enormously kind. Although she's done it partly out of courtesy to me, of course.'
'Yes, I know. John will be very proud.'
'There are a dozen children or more we can ask. If it's fine they can play in the garden.'
Then Rose was conscious of something. She was aware that Colonel Fawcus wished Michael to leave the room and was furious with him because he did not go.
She was not sure how it was that she was so certain of this, excep
