“Oh, Mr. Stratton, then you are not enjoying yourself?”
“I never seem to do that these days,” he replied gloomily.
Caroline seated herself beneath the gazebo.
“It is obvious sir, that you have too great sensibility for the society in which you move. It is not of course for me, a poor dependent, to criticise but I did not think his lordship’s guests last night were greatly distinguished for their brains.”
Mr. Stratton laughed.
“You put it most genteelly, Miss Fry, but I agree with you, they are a bacon-brained crowd. Those of them who weren’t too foxed gamed until the dawn and when I left them just now they were sitting down to the tables again. Try as I may, I cannot bring myself to pay a serious attention to gaming.”
“And why should you, sir?” Caroline asked. “But now I must leave y
