"Mr. Carter!"
"Considering, I say, his age, your conduct is scandalous. I shall never introduce any nice boys to you again."
"Oh, please do," said Dolly, clasping her hands.
"You give them roses," said I, accusingly. "You make them false to their earliest loves--"
"She was a pudding-faced thing," observed Dolly.
I frowned. Dolly, by an accident, allowed the tip of her finger to touch my arm for an instant.
"He"s a nice boy," said she. "How like he is to you, Mr. Carter!"
"I am a long way past that," said I. "I am thirty-six."
"If you mean to be disagreeable!" said she turning away. "I beg your pardon for touching you, Mr. Carter."
"I did not notice it, Lady Mickleham."
"Would you like to get out?"
"It"s miles from my club," said I discontentedly.
"He"s such fun," said Dolly, with a sudden smile. "He told Archie that I was the most charming woman in London! You"ve never done that!"
"He said the same about the pudding-faced girl," I observed.
There was a pause. Then Dolly asked:
"How is your nose?"
"The carriage exercise is doing it good," said I.
"If," observed Dolly, "he is so silly, now, what will he be at your age?"
"A wise man," said I.
"He suggested that I might write to him," bubbled Dolly.
Now when Dolly bubbles--an operation which includes a sudden turn towards me, a dancing of eyes, a dart of a small hand, a hurried rush of words, checked and confused by a speedier gust of gurgling sound--I am in the habit of ceasing to argue the question. Bubbling is not to be met by arguing. I could only say:
"He"ll have forgotten by the end of the term."
"He"ll remember two days later," retorted Dolly.
"Stop the carriage," said I. "I shall tell Mrs. Hilary all about it."
"I won"t stop the carriage," said Dolly. "I"m going to take you home with me."
"I am at a premium today," I said sardonically.
"One must have something," said Dolly. "How is your nose now, Mr.
Carter?"
I looked at Dolly. I had better not have done that.
"Would afternoon tea hurt it?" she inquired anxiously.
"It would do it good," said I decisively.
And that is absolutely the whole story. And what in the world Mrs.
Hilary found to disapprove of I don"t know--especially as I didn"t tell her half of it! But she did disapprove. However, she looks very well when she disapproves.
THE HOUSE OPPOSITE
We were talking over the sad case of young Algy Groom; I was explaining to Mrs. Hilary exactly what had happened.
"His father gave him," said I, "a hundred pounds, to keep him for three months in Paris while he learnt French."
"And very liberal too," said Mrs. Hilary.
"It depends where you dine," said I. "However, that question did not arise, for Algy went to the Grand Prix the day after he arrived--"
"A horse race?" asked Mrs. Hilary with great contempt.
"Certainly the compet.i.tors are horses," I rejoined. "And there he, most unfortunately, lost the whole sum, without learning any French to speak of."
"How disgusting!" exclaimed Mrs. Hilary, and little Miss Phyllis gasped in horror.
"Oh, well," said Hilary, with much bravery (as it struck me), "his father"s very well off."
"That doesn"t make it a bit better, declared his wife.
"There"s no mortal sin in a little betting, my dear. Boys will be boys--"
"And even that," I interposed, "wouldn"t matter if we could only prevent girls from being girls."
Mrs. Hilary, taking no notice whatever of me, p.r.o.nounced sentence. "He grossly deceived his father," she said, and took up her embroidery.
"Most of us have grossly deceived our parents before now," said I. "We should all have to confess to something of the sort."
"I hope you"re speaking for your own s.e.x," observed Mrs. Hilary.
"Not more than yours," said I. "You used to meet Hilary on the pier when your father wasn"t there--you told me so."
"Father had authorized my acquaintance with Hilary."