nter, for three-pence a hundred, and even that I
shouldn't do if it wasn't that Edith always wants a fourth and would be
certain to ask that detestable Jenkinham woman if she couldn't get me. I
would much rather sit and talk any day than play bridge; cards are such a
waste of time, I think. But as to Ronnie, bridge and baccarat and poker-
patience are positively all that he thinks about. Of course I've done my
best to stop it; I've asked the Norridrums not to let him play cards when
he's over there, but you might as well ask the Atlantic Ocean to keep
quiet for a crossing as expect them to bother about a mother's natural
anxieties."

"Why do you let him go there?" asked Eleanor Saxelby.

"My dear," said Mrs. Attray, "I don't want to offend them. After all,
they are my landlords and I have to look to them for anything I want done
about the place; they were very accommodating about the new roof for the
orchid house. And they lend me one of their cars when mine is out of
order; you know how often it gets out of order."

"I don't know how often," said Eleanor, "but it must happen very
frequently. Whenever I want you to take me anywhere in your car I am
always told that there is something wrong with it, or else that the
chauffeur has got neuralgia and you don't like to ask him to go out."

"He suffers quite a lot from neuralgia," said Mrs. Attray hastily.
"Anyhow," she continued, "you can understand that I don't want to offend
the Norridrums. Their household is the most rackety one in the county,
and I believe no one ever knows to an hour or two when any particular
meal will appear on the table or what it will consist of when it does
appear."

Eleanor Saxelby shuddered. She liked her meals to be of regular
occurrence and assured proportions.

"Still," pursued Mrs. Attray, "whatever their own home life may be, as
landlords and neighbours they are considerate and obliging, so I don't
want to quarrel with them. Besides, if Ronnie didn't play cards there
he'd be playing somewhere else."

"Not if you were firm with him," said Eleanor "I believe in being firm."

"Firm? I am firm," exclaimed Mrs. Attray; "I am more than firm--I am
farseeing. I've done everything I can think of to prevent Ronnie from
playing for money. I've stopped his allowance for the rest of the year,
so he can't even gamble on credit, and I've subscribed a lump sum to the
church offertory in his name instead of giving him instalments of small