yes as he followed his aunt; he
belonged to a generation that is supposed to be over-fond of the role of
mere spectator, but looking at napkins that one did not mean to buy was a
pleasure beyond his comprehension. Mrs. Chemping held one or two napkins
up to the light and stared fixedly at them, as though she half expected
to find some revolutionary cypher written on them in scarcely visible
ink; then she suddenly broke away in the direction of the glassware
department.

"Millicent asked me to get her a couple of decanters if there were any
going really cheap," she explained on the way, "and I really do want a
salad bowl. I can come back to the napkins later on."

She handled and scrutinised a large number of decanters and a long series
of salad bowls, and finally bought seven chrysanthemum vases.

"No one uses that kind of vase nowadays," she informed Cyprian, "but they
will do for presents next Christmas."

Two sunshades that were marked down to a price that Mrs. Chemping
considered absurdly cheap were added to her purchases.

"One of them will do for Ruth Colson; she is going out to the Malay
States, and a sunshade will always be useful there. And I must get her
some thin writing paper. It takes up no room in one's baggage."

Mrs. Chemping bought stacks of writing paper; it was so cheap, and it
went so flat in a trunk or portmanteau. She also bought a few
envelopes--envelopes somehow seemed rather an extragavance compared with
notepaper.

"Do you think Ruth will like blue or grey paper?" she asked Cyprian.

"Grey," said Cyprian, who had never met the lady in question.

"Have you any mauve notepaper of this quality?" Adela asked the
assistant.

"We haven't any mauve," said the assistant, "but we've two shades of
green and a darker shade of grey."

Mrs. Chemping inspected the greens and the darker grey, and chose the
blue.

"Now we can have some lunch," she said.

Cyprian behaved in an exemplary fashion in the refreshment department,
and cheerfully accepted a fish cake and a mince pie and a small cup of
coffee as adequate restoratives after two hours of concentrated shopping.
He was adamant, however, in resisting his aunt's suggestion that a hat
should be bought for him at the counter where men's headwear was being
disposed of at temptingly reduced prices.

"I've got as many hats as I want at home," he said, "and besides, it
rumples one's hair so, trying them on."

Perhaps he was going to develop