handkerchief. "But all our ladies do this when they want to make
themselves look nice. And I have put on this nasty thing that hurts me,
just to please Seer Marcous."

I felt I had been brutal. She must have spent hours over her adornment.
Yet I could not have taken her out into the street. She looked like
Jezebel, who without her paint must have been, like Carlotta, a
remarkably handsome person.

"It strikes me, Carlotta," said I, "that you will find England is
Alexandretta upside down. What is wrong there is right here, and vice
versa. Now if you want to please me run away and clean yourself and take
off those barbaric and Brummagem earrings."

She went and was absent a short while. She returned in dismay. Water
would not get it off. I rang for Antoinette, but Antoinette had gone
out. It being too delicate a matter for Stenson, I fetched a pot of
vaseline from my own room, and as Carlotta did not know what to make of
it, I with my own hands cleansed Carlotta. She screamed with delight,
thinking it vastly amusing. Her emotions are facile. I cannot deny that
it amused me too. But I am in a responsible position, and I am wondering
what the deuce I shall be doing next.

I enjoyed the drive to Richmond, where I gave her tea at the Star and
Garter and was relieved to see her drink normally from the cup, instead
of lapping from the saucer like a kitten. She was much more intelligent
than during our first drive on Tuesday. The streets have grown more
familiar, and the traffic does not make her head ache. She asks me the
ingenuous questions of a child of ten. The tall guardsmen we passed
particularly aroused her enthusiasm. She had never seen anything so
beautiful. I asked her if she would like me to buy one and give it her
to play with.

"Oh, would you, Seer Marcous?" she exclaimed, seizing my hand
rapturously. I verily believe she thought I was in earnest, for when I
turned aside my jest, she pouted in disappointment and declared that it
was wrong to tell lies.

"I am glad you have some elementary notions of ethics," said I. It
was during our drive that it occurred to me to ask her where she
had procured the paint and earrings. She explained, cheerfully, that
Antoinette had supplied the funds. I must talk seriously to
Antoinette. Her attitude towards Carlotta savours too much of idolatry.
Demoralisation will soon set in, and the utter ruin of Carlotta and
my digestion will be the result. I must also make Carlotta a sm