Vera could watch her
outside in the sunshine, moving about from group to group, shaking hands
with first one and then another, laughing at some playful sally, or
smiling demurely over some graver words of kindness. She was always
popular, was Beatrice, with her bright talk and her plain clever face,
and there was not a man or woman in all that crowd who did not wish her
happiness.
And so the day wore away, and the polo match--very badly played--was
over, and the votaries of lawn-tennis were worn out with running up and
down, and the flowers and the fruits in the show-tent began to look
limp and dusty. The farmers and those people of small importance who had
only been invited "from two to five," began now to take their departure,
and their carriage wheels were to be heard driving away in rapid
succession from the front door. Then the hundred or so of the "best
county people," who were remaining later for the dancing, began to think
of leaving the lawns before the dew fell. There was a general move
towards the house, and even the band "limbered up," and began to transfer
itself from the garden into the hall, where its labours were to begin
afresh.
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