Her tall, proudly
held figure made the stoutish captain seem shorter than he actually
was. The natural haughtiness of those classic features was somewhat
modified by a pro tem smile. Captain Kempt looked back over his
shoulder and said in a low voice:
"Now, young ladies, best foot forward. The Du Maurier woman is to
receive the Gibson girls."
"I know I shall laugh, and I fear I shall giggle," said Katherine, but
she encountered a glance from her elder sister quite as haughty as any
Lady Angela might have bestowed, and all thought of merriment fled for
the moment; thus the ordeal passed conventionally without Katherine
either laughing or giggling.
Sabina and her young man faded away into the crowd. Captain Kempt was
nodding to this one and that of his numerous acquaintances, and
Katherine felt Dorothy shrink a little closer to her as a tall,
unknown young man deftly threaded his way among the people, making
directly for the Captain, whom he seized by the hand in a grasp of the
most cordial friendship.
"Captain Kempt, I am delighted to meet you again. My name is
Drummond-- Lieutenant Drummond, and I had the pleasure of being
introduced to you at that dinner a week or two ago."
"The pleasure was mine, sir, the pleasure was mine," exclaimed the
Captain with a cordiality equal to that with which he had been
greeted. He had not at first the least recollection of the young man,
but the Captain was something of an amateur politician, and possessed
all a politician's expertness in facing the unknown, and making the
most of any situation in which he found himself.
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