ow.

SUDLEY. [_Rising, his respectability to the front when he thinks of
the ceremony._ GRACE _rises._] To-morrow. Well, my dear Sarah, a
respectable family with some means. We must accept her. But on the
whole, I think it will be best for me not to see the young woman. My
disapprobation would make itself apparent.

GRACE. [_Whispering to_ SUDLEY.] Cynthia's coming.

[_He doesn't hear._

CYNTHIA _comes in, absorbed in reading a newspaper. She is a
young creature in her twenties, small and high-bred, full of
the love of excitement and sport. Her manner is wide-awake
and keen, and she is evidently in no fear of the opinion of
others. Her dress is exceedingly elegant, but with the
elegance of a woman whose chief interests lie in life out of
doors. There is nothing hard or masculine in her style, and
her expression is youthful and ingenuous._

SUDLEY. [_Sententious and determinately epigrammatic._] The uncouth
modern young woman, eight feet high, with a skin like a rhinoceros and
manners like a cave-dweller--an habitue of the race-track and the
divorce court--

GRACE. [_Aside to_ SUDLEY.] Cousin William!

SUDLEY. Eh, oh!

CYNTHIA. [_Reading her newspaper, advances into the room, immersed,
excited, trembling. She lowers paper to catch the light._] "Belmont
favourite--six to one--Rockaway--Rosebud, and Flying Cloud. Slow
track--raw wind--h'm, h'm, h'm--At the half, Rockaway forged ahead,
when Rosebud under the lash made a bold bid for victory--neck by
neck--for a quarter--when Flying Cloud slipped by the pair and won on
the post by a nose in one forty nine!" [_Speaking with the enthusiasm
of a sport._] Oh, I wish I'd seen the dear thing do it. Oh, it's Mr.
Sudley! You must think me very rude. How do you do, Mr. Sudley?

[_Going over to_ SUDLEY.

SUDLEY. [_Bowing without cordiality._] Mrs. Karslake.

[CYNTHIA _pauses, feeling he should say something. As he says nothing,
she speaks again._

CYNTHIA. I hope Cairo was delightful? Did you have a smooth voyage?

SUDLEY. [_Pompously._] You must permit me, Mrs. Karslake--

CYNTHIA. [_With good temper, somewhat embarrassed, and talking herself
into ease._] Oh, please don't welcome me to the family. All that
formal part is over, if you don't mind. I'm one of the tribe now!
You're coming to our wedding to-morrow?

SUDLEY. My dear Mrs. Karslake, I think it might be wiser--

CYNTHIA. [_Still with cordial good tem