Fritz prepared to follow.
"Aren't you going into the concert-room?" she said.
"Presently."
"But--"
"I'll take you up first."
"Very well," she said. "But it isn't the least necessary."
He only stuck out his under jaw. She realised that Miss Schley would be
in the artists' room and said nothing more. They made their way very
slowly to the great landing on the first floor of the house, from which a
maze of reception rooms opened. Mr. and Mrs. Ongrin, the immensely rich
Australians who were the owners of the house, were standing there ready
to receive the two Royal Princesses who were expected, and Mr. Ongrin
took from a basket on a table beside him a great bouquet of
honey-coloured roses, and offered it to Lady Holme with a hearty word of
thanks to her for singing.
She took the roses with a look of pleasure.
"How sweet of you! They suit my song," she said.
She was thinking of the Italian song.
Mr. Ongrin, who was a large, loose-limbed man, with straw-coloured hair
turning grey, and a broken nose, looked genial and confused, and she went
on, still closely followed by Fritz.
"This is the room for the performers, my lady," said the footman, showing
them into a large, green drawing-room, with folding doors at one end shut
off by an immense screen.
"Is the platform behind the screen?" Lady Holme asked.
"Yes, my lady. The ladies' cloak-room is on the left--that door, my
lady.
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