There was general mirth at this point, on the part of the guests.
"I was so moved by his remarks that I dumped my cares upon him for the summer. He is outrageously superior about himself as parent. _He_ has found the perfect governess, _he_ discovers that our offspring has a brain; you should hear him go on."
"I have," protested Mrs. Page. "He used to make love to me, but now he tells me his domestic problems."
"He has the entire house upset now, because she has run off, but when he finds her, he won't have backbone enough to spank her," laughed Mrs. Wally.
"It always amuses me how parents agonize over the lost child, and spank it when it's found," said Martin Christiansen, the guest of honour at the tea.
"Not being a parent you don't realize that there is a large, well-defined body of parentisms. We all say the same things, do the same things to children, instinctively and without thought," Mrs. Page assured him.
"Puts you at such a disadvantage with your child, for the youngster thinks freshly, doesn't it, Mrs. Bryce?"
"I know mine thinks freshly--she's a brat! I keep out of her way, myself," remarked his hostess.
Presently dusk fell and still no signs of the child. Wally came back to telephone the police stations of the towns near them. He barely glanced at the laughing group on his terrace, but Mrs. Page spied him, and came to call out:
"Better come have your tea, Wally," Mrs. Bryce suggested.
"Damn," said Wally, under his breath, as he hurried into the house without any reply.
"Had we not better go? Aren't you anxious, Mrs. Bryce?" inquired Christiansen.
"Nothing will happen to her, she's too smart," commented Mrs. Page.
They took their departure shortly. Mrs. Bryce ordered the cook to hold back dinner. Then she let her vexation grow. It was outrageous that this little pest should upset things so completely. She had been especially anxious to impress this Mr. Christiansen, whom she had recently met. He was a distinguished _littérateur_ and critic, as well as a stunning giant of a man. The white lace gown had been entirely for his benefit. And yet because of Isabelle he had been critical of her. Man-like he had convictions about woman's job. He probably thought she should have been running around the country, in hysterics, looking for her chee-ild.