Then she brushed the girl's hair until it shone, leaving it to flow freely down to her shoulders. At last they were ready to go downstairs. The Earl looked up as they came in, and she thought she caught a look of surprise on his face as he saw her, looking even more drab than before. "Ladies," he said, "shall we go in to dinner?" As Alice went ahead he detained Rona a moment. "I think I understand what you're doing," he said. "But it doesn't work." "Sir?" "Nothing is going to make you look plain, Miss Johnson," he told her with a hint of a smile. "I am only trying to look like a governess," she said with a hint of severity. He gave her his arm. "Let us go in." In truth Rona was on hot coals lest her parents should find her before she could leave the country. How lucky that they were leaving so soon. In the meantime she must do all she could to convince the Earl that she was the right person for his daughter.
