f
dignity and drooping folds. Graceful slenderness abounded' also. To
Graham, a typically stiff man from a typically stiff period, not only
did these men seem altogether too graceful in person, but altogether too
expressive in their vividly expressive faces. They gesticulated, they
expressed surprise, interest, amusement, above all, they expressed
the emotions excited in their minds by the ladies about them with
astonishing frankness. Even at the first glance it was evident that
women were in a great majority.

The ladies in the company of these gentlemen displayed in dress, bearing
and manner alike, less emphasis and more intricacy. Some affected a
classical simplicity of robing and subtlety of fold, after the fashion
of the First French Empire, and flashed conquering arms and shoulders as
Graham passed. Others had closely-fitting dresses without seam or belt
at the waist, sometimes with long folds falling from the shoulders. The
delightful confidences of evening dress had not been diminished by the
passage of two centuries.

Everyone's movements seemed graceful. Graham remarked to Lincoln that
he saw men as Raphael's cartoons walking, and Lincoln told him that
the attainment of an appropriate set of gestures was part of every
rich person's education. The Master's entry was greeted with a sort of
tittering applause, but these people showed their distinguished manners
by not crowding upon him nor annoying him by any persistent scrutiny, as
he descended the steps towards the floor of the aisle.

He had already learnt from Lincoln that these were the leaders of
existing London society; almost every person there that night was either
a powerful official or the immediate connexion of a powerful official.
Many had returned from the European Pleasure Cities expressly to welcome
him. The aeronautic authorities, whose defection had played a part
in the overthrow of the Council only second to Graham's were very
prominent, and so, too, was the Wind Vane Control. Amongst others there
were several of the more prominent officers of the Food Trust; the
controller of the European Piggeries had a particularly melancholy and
interesting countenance and a daintily cynical manner. A bishop in full
canonicals passed athwart Graham's vision, conversing with a gentleman
dressed exactly like the traditional Chaucer, including even the laurel
wreath.

"Who is that?" he asked almost involuntarily

"The Bishop of London," said Lincoln.