anger
increased. She saw that Martin was talking to her aunt and did not look
at her. Perhaps he also had thought her forward; of course that horrid
sister of his would think everything that she did wrong. But did he?
Surely he understood. She wanted to ask him and then wanted to go home
and leave them all. She saw that her teacup was trembling in her hand.
She steadied it upon her knee and then her knee began to quiver, and
all the time Amy Warlock watched her. She thought then that she must
assert herself and show that she was not confused nor timid, so she
began in a high-strained voice to talk to Mrs. Warlock. She told Mrs.
Warlock that she found Harrods' a confusing place, that she had not yet
visited Westminster Abbey, that her health was quite good, that she had
no brothers and no sisters, that she could not play the piano, and that
she was afraid that she never read books.

It was after the last of these interesting statements that she was
suddenly aware of the sound of her own voice, as though it had been a
brazen gong beating stridently in the vastness of a deserted Cathedral.
She saw the old lady take two pieces of buttered toast from the china
dish, hold them tenderly in her hand and fling them a swift, bird-like
glance before she devoured them; during that moment's vision Maggie
discovered what so many people of vaster experience both of life and of
Mrs. Warlock had never discovered; namely, that the old lady cared more
for her food than her company. Maggie was suddenly less afraid of the
whole family. She looked up then at Martin as though she thus would
prove her new courage and, he glancing across at the same moment, they
smiled. He left his father's side and, coming over to her, sat down
close to her. He dropped his voice in speaking to her.

"I've been wanting to see you," he said.

"Why?" she asked him.

"Well," he answered, smiling at her as though he wanted to tell her
something privately. "I feel as though we'd got a lot to tell one
another ... I'm a stranger here really quite as much as you."

"No, you're not," she said. "You can't be so MUCH a stranger anywhere
because you've been all over the world and are ready for anything."

"And you?"

"I don't seem to manage the simplest things. Aunt Elizabeth and I get
lost the moment we move outside the door ... Do you like my dress?" she
asked him.

"Why!" he said, obviously startled by such a question. "It's--it's
splendid!"

"No, you know