The striking of the hour reminded her that she had forgotten to
prepare for dinner. Khe hastily took off her hat, washed her hands,
spent another minute among the mirrors, and was summoning courage to
ring the bell, when a doubt occurred to her. Ought she to put on her
gloves before going down or not? This kept her in perplexity for
many seconds. At last she resolved to put her gloves in her pocket,
and be guided as to their further disposal by the example of her
hostess. Then, not daring to hesitate any longer, she rang the bell,
and was presently joined by a French lady of polished manners--Miss
Carew's maid who conducted her to the boudoir, a hexagonal apartment
that, Alice thought, a sultana might have envied. Lydia was there,
reading. Alice noted with relief that she had not changed her dress,
and that she was ungloved.
Miss Goff did not enjoy the dinner. There was a butler who seemed to
have nothing to do but stand at a buffet and watch her. There was
also a swift, noiseless footman who presented himself at her elbow
at intervals and compelled her to choose on the instant between
unfamiliar things to eat and drink. She envied these men their
knowledge of society, and shrank from their criticism. Once, after
taking a piece of asparagus in her hand, she was deeply mortified at
seeing her hostess consume the vegetable with the aid of a knife and
fork; but the footman's back was turned to her just then, and the
butler, oppressed by the heat of the weather, was in a state of
abstraction bordering on slumber. On the whole, by dint of imitating
Miss Oarew, who did not plague her with any hostess-like vigilance,
she came off without discredit to her breeding.
Lydia, on her part, acknowledged no obligation to entertain her
guest by chatting, and enjoyed her thoughts and her dinner in
silence. Alice began to be fascinated by her, and to wonder what she
was thinking about. She fancied that the footman was not quite free
from the same influence. Even the butler might have been meditating
himself to sleep on the subject. Alice felt tempted to offer her a
penny for her thoughts. But she dared not be so familiar as yet.
And, had the offer been made and accepted, butler, footman, and
guest would have been plunged into equal confusion by the
explanation, which would have run thus: "I saw a vision of the Hermes of Praxiteles in a sylvan haunt
to-day; and I am thinking of that."