"Shut up!--that's what it is," said Roger.
"All right; thanks," said Tom contentedly.
And for a quarter of an hour more the two worked steadily and silently, the only sound in the room being the scratching of their pencils and Rosalind's occasional terse criticisms over their shoulders.
This little incident opened Roger's eyes considerably. He was astonished at himself afterwards for taking his rebuff so meekly, and submitting to what, after all, was rather a preposterous regulation. He was aware that he would not have submitted to any one but Rosalind, or possibly Armstrong. Why he should do so to her he did not particularly know; unless it was because he felt it would be pleasanter on the whole to have her as a friend than as a foe.
When, three days later, Mr Armstrong neither appeared nor communicated with any member of the household, the uneasiness which his prolonged absence caused found expression in several different ways. Miss Jill cried in a corner; Miss Rosalind tossed her head and painted fiercely; Roger, already pulled down with a return of his cough, moped in his own room; while his mother, impressed by the growing indignation of her cousin, began to work herself into a mild state of wrath. Tom alone was serene.
"I expect he's having a jolly time with that French chap," he volunteered at the family dinner.
"With whom?" inquired his father pricking his ears.
"Oh, a chum of his; not half a bad sort of cove, only he dropped all his `h's.' He turned up at Christy's, you know, but missed the best break- down, while he and Mr Armstrong were hob-nobbing outside. I saw it, though. It was prime."
"Why didn't you tell me this before?" demanded Captain Oliphant.
"I didn't know you'd care about it," said his son in mild surprise. "You see, it was this way. The fellow had wooden shoes on, and when the music began slow he began a shuffle, and gradually put on the pace till you couldn't tell one foot from the other."
Here Miss Rosalind broke into a derisive laugh.
"Really, Tom," said she, "you are too clever. However did you guess that we were all dying to hear how a break-down is danced?"
Here Roger and the two young ladies laughed again; whereat Tom, concluding he had said something good unawares, laughed too, and thought to himself how jolly it is to be clever and keep the table at a roar.