CHAPTER TWO

AS SHE TRAVERSED THE SMOKING-PARLOUR the cheerful sounds that had once tinkled from the collar of a Flemish horse chimed through the house, and simultaneously she became aware that there would be macaroni au gratin for lunch, which was very dear and remembering of Peppino. But before setting fork to her piled-up plate, she had to question him, for her mental craving for information was far keener than her appetite for food.

“Caro, who is an Indian,” she said, “whom I saw just now with Daisy Quantock? They were the other side of il