beaming apparition in all-yellow,
whose personality invaded the room like a burst of brilliant sunshine
through a thunder-cloud.

"Not to mention all the doors having to be propped open! No complete
set of china anywhere. Wedges bitten out of every--er--blessed egg-cup!
Pick up a bit of real Dresden, and the seccotined piece comes off in
your hand.

"As for the furniture, well, half of it looks as if it had bin used for
Harry Tate to play about with in a screaming new absurdity, entitled
'Moving,' or 'Spring-cleaning,' or something like----"

Here the acidulated voice of the lady who'd come in the motor broke in
with some very rebukeful remark. Something to the effect that she had
always considered everything so delightful that the dear Price-Vaughans
had in the house----

"Pr'aps the dear What-Price-Vaughans," retorted the comedienne, "can get
along with their delightful style of bathroom?"

"Oh, do tell us," implored the girl with the black plait, "what's the
matter with that?"

"The bath, Kiddy? Absolutely imposs!" decreed London's Love. "Water
comes in at the rate of a South-Eastern Dead-Stop. Turn one tap on and
you turn the other off. Not to speak of there only being one bath, and
that five sizes too small, dear. The Not-at-Any-Price-Vaughans must be
greyhound built for slimness, if you ask me. It don't seem to fit our
shrinking Violet, as you can imagine. Why, look at her!"

Quite an unnecessary request, as the fascinated, horrified eyes of the
whole party had not yet left her sumptuous and bedizened person.

"Call it a bath?" she concluded, with her largest and most unabashedly
vulgar wink. "I'd call it a----"

We weren't privileged to hear what she could call it, for at this moment
the lady with the very towny hat rose with remarkable suddenness, and
asked in a concise and carrying voice that her man might be told to
bring round Miss Davis's car.

I slipped out to the kitchen and to Miss Davis's man, who, as I
expected, had finished an excellent tea and the subjugation of cook at
the same time.

"Your mistress would like the car round at once, please," I said, with a
frantic effort not to smile as I caught the mischievous, black-framed,
blue eyes of the Honourable Jim Burke.

He rose. "Good afternoon, ma'am, and thank you for one of the most
splendid teas I've ever had in my life," he said in that flattering
voice of his to cook, as she bustled out, beaming upon him as she went
into the scullery