Bobbie Forbes and Alicia Drake, attracted by the sounds of war, looked in from the next room.

Forbes listened a moment, shrugged his shoulders, made a whistling mouth, and then walked off to a glass bookcase--the one sign of civilization in the vast room--where he was soon absorbed in early editions of English poets, Lady Lucy's inheritance from a literary father.

Alicia moved about, a little restless and scornful, now listening unwillingly, and now attempting diversions.

But in these she found no one to second her, not even the two pink-and-white nieces of Lady Lucy, who did not understand a word of what was going on, but were none the less gazing open-mouthed at Diana.
Marion Vincent meanwhile had drawn nearer to Diana.

Her strong significant face wore a quiet smile; there was a friendly, even an admiring penetration in the look with which she watched the young prophetess of Empire and of War.