ing so, I hope," he whispered, "but my
grandmother is not well and much conversation tires her. So we don't
talk too much in her presence. Only just now and then, you understand."

And with this last injunction--futile, he knew as he gave it--he
commended himself to whatever powers there be and opened the door.

Sir Tiglath had not yet arrived, but Lady Julia Postlethwaite was seated
on a sofa by Mrs. Merillia, and was conversing with her about the Court,
the dreadful amount of money a certain duke--her third cousin--had
recently had to pay in Death Duties, the corrupt condition of society,
and the absurd pretensions of the lower middle classes. Lady Julia was
sensitive and a very _grande dame_. She wore her hair powdered, and had
a slight cough and exquisite manners. Once a lady in waiting, she was
now a widow, possessed a set of apartments in Hampton Court Palace,
worshipped Queen Alexandra, and had scarcely ever spoken to anybody who
moved outside of Court Circles. The Duke of Wellington was said to have
embraced her when a child.

Mrs. Merillia and this lady looked up when the door opened, and Lady
Julia paused midway in a sentence, of which these were the opening
words,--

"The old duke wouldn't make it over, and so poor Loftus has to pay
nearly a million to the Chancellor of the Excheq--"

"How d'you do, Lady Julia? Grannie, I have persuaded my friends, Mr.
and Madame Sagittarius, to join us at dinner. Sir Tiglath Butt is
most anxious to meet Mr. Sagittarius, who is a great astronomer. Let
me--Madame Sagittarius, Mrs. Merillia--Mr. Sagittarius--Mrs. Merillia,
my grandmother--Lady Julia Postlethwaite."

Mrs. Merillia, although taken completely by surprise, and fully
conscious that her grandson had committed an outrage in turning an
arranged and intimate quartette without permission into a disorganised
sextette, bowed with self-possessed graciousness, and indicated a chair
to Madame, who seated herself in it with that sort of defensive and
ostentatious majesty which is often supposed by ill-bred people to be
a perfect society manner. Mr. Sagittarius remained standing in his
enormous suit, turning out his feet, over which Mr. Ferdinand's trousers
rippled in broadcloth waves, in the first position. A slight pause
ensued, during which the Prophet was uncomfortably affected by the
behaviour of Madame, who gazed at the very neat and superior wig worn by
Mrs. Merillia, and at that lady's charming silver grey damask