I told her she wouldn't have time enough to get there and back before dinner.

Never mind.

We'll begin, and I'll order something to be kept hot for her." Accordingly they all adjourned to the dining-room and dinner proceeded in its usual leisurely fashion, although the gay chatter that generally accompanied it was absent.

Everyone seemed conscious of a certain uneasiness.
"I wish young Nan would come back," remarked Barry at last, looking up abruptly from the fish he was dissecting.

A shade of anxiety clouded his lazy blue eyes.