It had not escaped his notice that the letter Piers had read had disappeared unobtrusively into an inner pocket.
"Who's the other letter from ?" said Piers, glancing at it perfunctorily.
"Oh, I know.

No one of importance.

She'll keep till after dinner." Ina Rose would not have felt flattered had she heard the statement.

The fan Piers had promised to send her had duly arrived from Paris with a brief--very brief--note from him, requesting her acceptance of it.

She had written in reply a letter which she had been at some pains to compose, graciously accepting the gift and suggesting that an account of any adventures that befell him would be received by her with interest.
She added that, a spell of frost having put an end to the hunting, life at Wardenhurst had become extremely flat, and she had begun to envy Piers in his exile.