Chapter EighteenThe Deanery party broke up in due course. Everyone told Mrs. Mayhew how much they had enjoyed it, and in most cases they spoke no more than the truth. Louisa Arnold, coming back into her own house with her cousin, was really quite reluctant to admit that the evening was over and to say good night. It was so very pleasant to linger by what was left of the drawing-room fire and gossip for a while.
‘I am really quite charmed with Candida Sayle, but, my dear, did it not strike you that Stephen was too?’
Miss Silver smiled. She could have expressed it a good deal more strongly than that, but she refrained.
‘And, my dear Maud, did you notice Derek Burdon and that nice girl I was telling you about, Jenny Rainsford? They seemed to be having quite a serious talk, and I don’t thin
