Two tall Argand lamps cast a soft radiance over the shabby furniture and
faded carpet. It was a lovely evening, a true St. Martin's summer night,
and the middle one of the three long French windows was widely open on to
the fragrant, scented garden.
Mrs. Crofton, a graceful, appealing figure in her soft, black chiffon
gown, hesitated a moment--she wondered where they wanted her to sit?
And then Mrs. Tosswill came forward and, taking her hand, led her to the
big sofa, while one of the girls fetched an extra cushion so that she
might sit back comfortably. The talk drifted to the War, and Enid Crofton
was soon engaged in giving an animated account of some of her own
experiences--how she had managed to spend a very exciting fortnight not
far from the Front, in a hospital run by a great lady with whom she had a
slight acquaintance. Soon, sooner than usual, Mr. Tosswill and his three
sons came into the drawing-room, and they were all talking and laughing
together happily when a most unlucky, and untoward, accident happened!
Timmy's dog, Flick, having somehow escaped from the stable, suddenly ran
in from the dark garden, straight through the window opposite the sofa
round which the whole of the party was now gathered together.
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