"Of course we can't have our party, can we?" Laura said. "Stop the garden-party? My dear Laura, don't be so absurd." Jose was astonished. "Of course we can't do anything of the kind. Nobody expects us to. Don't be so extravagant." "But we can't possibly have a garden-party with a man dead just outside the front gate." That really was extravagant, for the little cottages were in a lane of their own at the very bottom of a steep rise, and a broad road ran between. True, they were far too near, an eyesore, and they had no right to be in that neighbourhood at all. Laura ran to her mother, who was trying on a new hat before the mirror.