“Wisoot,” Daddy told me one day as we spoke in my room. “I have a feeling that sometimes you are very lonely, because it’s so quiet here. Are you happy with us?”
“Daddy, I have never felt so happy in my life,” I replied enthusiastically. “I would like to stay here till the day I die and I don’t even feel like going out at all.”
“Well, we’ve arranged a couple of friends for you to meet,” Daddy said with a little smile. “They’ll arrive here from Paris on Wednesday. You are a young man, so you probably won’t mind having a couple of young women to talk or dance with. Staying all the time with old people and an innocent child like Stephanie isn’t good for you. If I were you, I’d be bored to death.”
“Stephanie is a fine girl and she is good to me, Daddy.”
“I know, but she’s too young.”
“Who is coming on Wednesday?” I asked.
“Lady Moira Dunn,” Daddy answered. “She’s a correspondent of The London Times. She’ll bring her friend Maria Grey along. Miss Grey is also a reporter for that newspaper.”
“Is Lady Moira old or young?” I asked him jocularly.
“She’s one of our close relatives. She’s about thirty-five,” Daddy answered in earnest. “But her friend is still young, and she has promised to cheer you up for the duration of their stay here.”
“Will they stay here long?”
“Newspaper people like them can’t stay with us for long,” Daddy replied as he lit a cigar. “They have to travel and work a lot. However, they’ll be with us for at least a week. It’s their holiday.”
Presently, there was a knock on the door. I asked who it was.