hed as many of Mrs
Mitchell's friends away as she thought desirable.) 'But as a general
rule I suppose we're not really in the same set. But perhaps you're
going on there afterwards?'

That had been Mr Clicker's intention, but he denied it, with surprise
and apparent pain at the suspicion.

She settled down more comfortably.

'Ah, well, Mrs Mitchell is an extremely nice, hospitable woman, and her
parties are, I know, considered _quite_ amusing, but I do think--I
really do--that her husband carries his practical jokes and things a
_little_ too far. It isn't good form, it really isn't, to see a man of
his age, with his face blacked, coming in after dinner with a banjo,
calling himself the Musical White-eyed Kaffir, as he did the last time
I was there. I find it _deplace_--that's the word, _deplace_. He seemed
to think that we were all children at a juvenile party! I was saying so
to Lord Rye only last night. Lord Rye likes it, I think, but he says Mr
Mitchell's mad--that's what it is, a little mad. Last time Lord Rye was
there everybody had a present given them hidden in their table napkins.
There had been some mistake in the parcels, I believe, and Miss
Mooney--you know, the actress, Myra Mooney--received a safety razor,
and Lord Rye a vanity bag. Everybody screamed with laughter, but I must
say it seemed to me rather silly. I wasn't there myself.'

'I was,' said Mr Cricker. 'I got a very pretty little feather fan. I
suppose the things really had been mixed up, and after all I was very
glad of the fan; I was able to give it to--' He stopped, sighed and
looked down on the floor.

'And is that affair still going on, Willie dear? It seems to me _such_
a pity. I _do_ wish you would try and give it up.'

'I know, but she _won't_,' he said in a voice hoarse with anxiety.
'Dear Lady Everard, you're a woman of the world, and know everything--'

She smiled. 'Not everything, Willie; a little of music, perhaps. I know
a good voice when I hear it. I have a certain _flair_ for what's going
to be a success in that direction, and of course I've been everywhere
and seen everything. I've a certain natural knowledge of life, too, and
keep well up to date with everything that's going on. I knew about the
Hendon Divorce Case long before anyone else, though it never came off
after all, but that's not the point. But then I'm so discreet; people
tell me things. At any rate, I always _know_.'

Indeed, Lady Everard firmly believed herse