"Meaning you're not going to dance more than one dance?" he asked.
She opened her laughing eyes wide. "Why should it mean that? You're not
the only man in the room, are you?"
Sir Eustace's jaw set itself suddenly after a fashion that made him
look formidable, albeit he laughed back at her with his eyes. "All
right--Daphne," he murmured. "I'll have the first."
Dinah's heart gave a little throb of apprehension, but she quieted it
impatiently. What had she to fear? She nodded and lightly turned away.
All through dinner she alternately dreaded and longed for the moment of
his coming to claim that dance from her. That haughty confidence of his
had struck a curious chord in her soul, and the suspense was almost
unbearable.
She noticed that Rose was very serene and smiling, and she regarded her
complacency with growing resentment. Rose could dance as often as she
liked with him, and no one would find fault. Rose had had him all to
herself throughout the afternoon moreover. She knew very well that had
the ski-ing lesson been offered to her, she would not have been allowed
to avail herself of it.
A wicked little spirit awoke within her. Why should she always be kept
thus in the background? Surely her right to the joys of life was as great
as--if not greater than--Rose's! With her it would all end so soon, while
Rose had the whole of her youth before her like a pleasant garden in
which she might wander or rest at will.
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