She began to go out much more; and with Alec, Dick Lomas, and
Mrs. Crowley, went much to the opera and often to the play. They had
charming little dinner parties at the _Carlton_ and amusing suppers at
the _Savoy_. Alec did not speak much on these occasions. It pleased him
to sit by and listen, with a placid face but smiling eyes, to the
nonsense that Dick Lomas and the pretty American talked incessantly. And
Lucy watched him. Every day she found something new to interest her in
the strong, sunburned face; and sometimes their eyes met: then they
smiled quietly. They were very happy.

* * *

One evening Dick asked the others to sup with him; and since Alec had a
public dinner to attend, and Lucy was going to the play with Lady
Kelsey, he took Julia Crowley to the opera. To make an even number he
invited Robert Boulger to join them at the _Savoy_. After brushing his
hair with the scrupulous thought his thinning locks compelled, Dick
waited in the vestibule for Mrs. Crowley. Presently she came, looking
very pretty in a gown of flowered brocade which made her vaguely
resemble a shepherdess in an old French picture. With her diamond
necklace and a tiara in her dark hair, she looked like a dainty princess
playing fantastically at the simple life.

'I think people are too stupid,' she broke out, as she joined Dick.
'I've just met a woman who said to me: "Oh, I hear you're going to
America. Do go and call on my sister. She'll be so glad to see you." "I
shall be delighted," I said, "but where does your sister live?"
"Jonesville, Ohio," "Good heavens," I said, "I live in New York, and
what should I be doing in Jonesville, Ohio?"'

'Keep perfectly calm,' said Dick.

'I shall not keep calm,' she answered. 'I hate to be obviously thought
next door to a red Indian by a woman who's slab-sided and
round-shouldered. And I'm sure she has dirty petticoats.'

'Why?'

'English women do.'

'What a monstrous libel!' cried Dick.

At that moment they saw Lady Kelsey come in with Lucy, and a moment
later Alec and Robert Boulger joined them. They went in to supper and
sat down.

'I hate Amelia,' said Mrs. Crowley emphatically, as she laid her long
white gloves by the side of her.

'I deplore the prejudice with which you regard a very jolly sort of a
girl,' answered Dick.

'Amelia has everything that I thoroughly object to in a woman. She has
no figure, and her legs are much too long, and she doesn't wear corsets.
In the daytime