They were a little afraid of her also, though not one could
have said why, since no bitter word was ever heard to pass her lips.
She greeted Chris with a cold, limp hand. "So nice of you to come. I hope
you won't be bored. Ah, Mr. Mordaunt, how is Kellerton Old Park by this
time? I hardly recognized it the day I called. Rupert tells me you have
worked wonders inside as well as out."
"May I introduce our friend Monsieur Bertrand?" said Chris.
Bertrand brought his heels together and bowed low over the limp hand
transferred to his. Mrs. Pouncefort smiled.
"There is a fellow-countryman of yours here. Where has he gone? Ah, there
you are! Captain Rodolphe, let me introduce you to Mrs. Mordaunt and her
French friend Monsieur Bertrand."
She extended one finger to Noel while making the introduction, and at
once turned her attention elsewhere.
Chris found herself face to face with a heavy-browed man with an
overbearing demeanour and a mouth and chin that sneered perpetually
behind a waxed moustache and imperial. She stared at him for an instant
with a bewildered feeling of having seen him somewhere before.
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