tea-gown. Steptoe placed her in the corner of the sofa which the lyte
Mrs. Allerton had generally occupied when "receivin' company", and
William brought in the tea-equipage on a gorgeous silver tray.

Before he did this it had been necessary to school William to his
part, which, to do him justice, he carried out with becoming gravity.
Any reserves he might have felt were expressed to Golightly by a wink
behind Steptoe's back before he left the kitchen. The wink was the
more expressive owing to the fact that Golightly and William had
already summed up the old fellow as "balmy on the bean," while their
part was to humor him. Plain as a bursting shell seemed to William
Miss Gravely's position in the household, and Steptoe's chivalry
toward her an eccentricity which a sense of humor could enjoy.
Otherwise they justified his reading of the fundamental non-morality
of men, in bringing no condemnation to bear on anyone concerned. Being
themselves two almost incapacitated heroes, with jobs likely to prove
"soft," it was wise, they felt, to enter into Steptoe's comedy. At
half past ten in the morning, therefore, Golightly prepared tea and
buttered toast, while William arranged the tea-tray with those
over-magnificent appointments which had been "the lyte Mrs. Allerton's
tyste."

From her corner of the sofa Letty heard the butler announce, in a
voice stately but not stentorian: "Miss Barbara Walbrook."

He was so near the door that to step out and step in again was the
work of a second. In stepping in again he trod daintily, wriggling the
back part of his person, better to simulate the feminine. In order
that Letty should nowhere be caught unaware he put out his hand
languidly, back upward, as princesses do when they expect it to be
kissed.

"So delighted to find you at 'ome, Mrs. Allerton. It's such a very
fine dye I was sure as you'd be out."

Rising from her corner Letty shook the relaxed hand as she might have
shaken a dog's tail. "Very pleased to meet you."

From the histrionic Steptoe lapsed at once into the critical. "I think
if madam was to sye, 'So glad to be _at_ 'ome, Miss Walbrook; do let
me ring for tea,' it'd be more like the lyte Mrs. Allerton."

Obediently Letty repeated this formula, had the bell pointed out to
her, and rang. The ladies having seated themselves, Miss Walbrook
continued to improvise on the subject of the weather.

"Some o' these October dyes'll be just like summer time! and then
agyne t