I held my breath. Sir Arthur had reached his second fence.
"The little one," he replied after consideration, "is doing nicely. Not so very little, though, when you come to think of it," he continued, boldly taking the initiative.
"Has she grown so big, then?" enquired Mrs. Botley-Markham, unconsciously giving away another point. The little one"s s.e.x was determined. Certainly it was an exhilarating game.
"Quite extraordinary," said d.i.c.ky. "How big," he continued cunningly, "would you imagine she was now?"
"Not as big as my Babs?" cried Mrs. Botley-Markham incredulously.
"That," replied The Freak, "is just exactly how big she is." There was the least tinge of disappointment in his voice. Evidently he had hoped for something more tangible. For purposes of mensuration Babs was useless to him.
"Why "just exactly"?" enquired Mrs. Botley-Markham doubtfully. "You are very precise about it."
"We met Babs in the Park the other day," replied the audacious d.i.c.ky, "and compared them."
Mrs. Botley-Markham frankly gaped.
"But, dear Sir Arthur," she exclaimed--"How?"
"How does one compare--er--little ones?" was the evasive reply of Sir Arthur.
The outraged parent turned upon him.
"You mean to say you laid those two innocents side by side upon the wet gra.s.s," she gasped, "and--"
"It was nearly dry," said d.i.c.ky soothingly.
I choked noisily, for I was rapidly losing self-control; but neither of the performers in the duologue took the slightest notice of me.
"I shall speak to my nurse to-morrow morning," announced Mrs.
Botley-Markham firmly. "I cannot imagine what she was thinking about."
"Don"t be hard on her," begged d.i.c.ky. "It was my fault entirely."
"It certainly was _very_ naughty of you," said Mrs. Botley-Markham, already relenting, "but I forgive you--there!" She tapped the eccentric Sir Arthur playfully upon the arm. "Tell me, though, what does Gwladys weigh? Mere bigness in children is so often deceptive."
Even a.s.suming that Gwladys was also the Little One, it was obvious that d.i.c.ky had not yet cleared his second fence. I began vaguely to calculate what a healthy child should weigh. A thirty-pound salmon, for instance--how would that compare with a fat baby? But d.i.c.ky made a final and really brilliant effort.
"Fourteen point eight," he said promptly.
"I beg your pardon?" replied Mrs. Botley-Markham.
"Fourteen point eight cubic centimetres," repeated The Freak in a firm voice. "That is the metric system of weights and measures. It is the only accurate and scientific method. All the big doctors have taken to it, you will find. I never allow any other to be employed where Gwladys is concerned. I strongly advise you," he added earnestly, "to have Babs weighed in the same manner. Everybody"s doing it now," he concluded lyrically.
Mrs. Botley-Markham quivered with pleasure. An opportunity of getting ahead of the fashion does not occur to us every day.
"I will certainly take your advice, dear Sir Arthur," she replied.
"Tell me, where does one get it done?"
"At the British Museum, between seven and eight in the morning," replied The Freak, whose pheasant was growing cold. "And now, dear lady, tell me everything that you have been doing lately."
Mrs. Botley-Markham, being nothing loath, launched forth. She even found time to re-include me in the conversation, disturbing my meditations upon the strenuous awakening which awaited poor Babs upon the morrow with an enquiry as to whether my ca.n.a.l was to contain salt water or fresh. But she had not finished with d.i.c.ky yet. Suddenly she turned upon him, and remarked point-blank:--
"How pleased the Stantons will be!"
"Indeed, yes!" replied The Freak enthusiastically.
At the sound of his voice I trembled. We had reached the dessert, and with port in sight, so to speak, it was impossible to tell what foolishness he might not commit.
"In fact," he continued shamelessly, "I happen to know that they are not merely pleased but ecstatic. I saw them yesterday."
"Where?" asked Mrs. Botley-Markham.
"Dear lady," replied d.i.c.ky, smiling, "where does one invariably meet the Stantons?"
"You mean at the Archdeacon"s?" said Mrs. Botley-Markham.
"I do," said my reprobate friend. "They had all been down the Str--I mean to the Pan-Mesopotamian Conference," he added quite gratuitously.
"Ah, of course; they would," a.s.sented Mrs. Botley-Markham hazily, evidently wondering whether she ought to have heard of the Pan-Mesopotamian Conference. "Were they all there?"
"All but the delicate one," replied The Freak, abandoning all restraint.
"Do you mean Isobel?"
"Yes," replied the graceless Richard--"I do. Poor Isobel!" he added gently.
"I am afraid they are not a strong family," said Mrs. Botley-Markham, with a sympathetic glance which rather alarmed me. I foresaw complications.
The Freak wagged his head gloomily.
"No; a weak strain, I fear."
"I hope--I _hope_," said Mrs. Botley-Markham, evidently choosing her words with care and tact, "that the weakness does not extend to Gipsy."
Then Gipsy was connected with the Stantons! Freak would have to walk warily. But at this moment his attention was wandering in the direction of our hostess, who was beginning to exhibit symptoms of upheaval with a view to withdrawal. He replied carelessly:--
"No. Why should it?"
Mrs. Botley-Markham, a little offended and fl.u.s.tered at being taken up so sharply, replied with exaggerated humility:--
"I only _meant_, dear Sir Arthur, that if one sister is delicate, possibly another may be slightly inclined--"
Then Isobel and Gipsy were sisters. I knew it!
At this moment the hostess gave the mystic sign, and the company rose.
Freak turned a sad and slightly reproachful gaze upon Mrs.
Botley-Markham.