w long does it take, then?" said Lady Chaloner, with a smile of
strange indulgence, Mrs. Birkett thought, for a lady so highly placed,
and of such solid dignity.

"Oh! about half an hour," said Moricourt; "perhaps three-quarters."

"Is that all?" said Lady Chaloner, in some consternation. "The Cafe
Chantant goes on for how long did you say, Mrs. Birkett?"

This piece of statistics Mrs. Birkett was able to furnish.

"From six till ten, I think you said, Lady Chaloner," she said, reading
from her list.

"Heavens!" said the Princess, "you don't expect us, I hope, to go on
from six till ten. We had better do the Nibelungen Ring at once. I will
be Bruennhilde--and I tell you what," turning to Moricourt, "you shall be
the big lizard who comes in and says 'bow-wow,' or whatever it is. Mr.
Wentworth!" and she called to Wentworth who was strolling along with an
air of being at peace with himself and the universe. "What is it that
lizards do?"

"If they are small," said Wentworth, "they run up a wall in the sun, or
they run over your feet, and if they are big----"

"You fall over their feet, I suppose," said the Princess.

"But a lizard at a Cafe Chantant," said Moricourt, "what does he do?"

"At a Cafe Chantant? He sings, of course," said Wentworth.

"No no," said the Princess, with again her resonant laugh. "I don't know
much about botany, but I am sure lizards don't sing."

"Then in that case," said Moricourt, "Wentworth must. He can sing; I
have heard him."

"Can you, Mr. Wentworth? How well can you sing?" said the Princess with
artless candour.

"Well," said Wentworth, "that is rather difficult to say. I don't sing
quite as well as Mario perhaps, but a little better than ... a lizard."

"Oh, that will do perfectly," said the Princess. "For a charity, people
are not particular."

"By the way, what is all this for?" said Wentworth.

"For the English Church here, you remember," said Lady Chaloner.

"Oh! to be sure, yes," said Wentworth. "I saw the placard."

"This is Mrs. Birkett," said Lady Chaloner.

Wentworth bowed and said politely, "I hope the bazaar will be a great
success."

"I hope so, thank you," Mrs. Birkett said, feeling that if the bazaar
were not a great success, she would have gone through a good deal for a
very little. She longed to be allowed to go away, but she was not quite
sure whether she would not be jeopardising the success of the bazaar by
leaving at this juncture. Visions of havin