Radmore muttered to his neighbour, Rosamund, "Where's Betty?"
"In the kitchen. She's the only one of us who knows how to cook. She
_loves_ cooking. She'll come into the drawing-room later if she's not too
tired."
Radmore felt indignant. It was too bad that Betty, whom he vividly
remembered as the petted darling of the house, should now have become--to
put it in a poetical way--the family Cinderella! But as the dinner went
on, and as the soup was succeeded by some excellent fish, as well as by
roast chicken, a particularly delicious blackberry fool, and a subtly
composed savoury, he began to wonder whether some good professional cook
had not been got in after all. He could hardly believe that Betty had
cooked and dished up this really excellent dinner.
All through the meal Timmy flitted in and out, bringing round and
removing the plates, but it was Tom who did most of the waiting.
At last Janet, catching Enid Crofton's eye, got up and delivered
as parting injunction, "Please don't stay too long behind us,
gentlemen--we're going to have coffee in the drawing-room."
Jack Tosswill sprang to the door, and tried to catch Mrs. Crofton's eye
as she passed out first, but of course he failed, and as he came back to
the table, he observed: "I do hope Betty won't be too tired to come into
the drawing-room.
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