e of them, and you'd
like living in Dublin, wouldn't you, Mrs. Ford?"

Mrs. Ford stood still suddenly. She was evidently going to say
something. Dr. O'Grady waited. He had to wait for some time, because the
lady was very-much out of breath. At last she spoke.

"Dr. O'Grady," she said, "I believe in plain speaking."

Neither Dr. O'Grady nor anyone else in Ballymoy doubted the truth of
this. Nearly everybody had been spoken to plainly by Mrs. Ford at
one time or another. Kerrigan, the butcher, was spoken to with
uncompromising plainness once a week, on Saturday mornings.

"Quite right," said Dr. O'Grady, "there's nothing like it."

"Then I may as well tell you," said Mrs. Ford, "that I think it was due
to my position--however much you may dislike me personally----"

"I don't. On the contrary----"

"----Due to my position as the wife of the resident magistrate that I, and
not that Mrs. Gregg, should have been invited to present the bouquet to
Lady Chesterton."

Dr. O'Grady gasped. Then he realised that he had made a fearful blunder.

"Half an hour ago," said Mrs. Ford, "that woman, who isn't even a lady,
bounced into my house, giggling, and told me to my face that you had
asked her----"

"Silly little thing, isn't she?" said Dr. O'Grady. "But of course, you
have far too much sense to be annoyed by anything she said."

"Don't imagine for a moment," said Mrs. Ford, "that I am vexed. The
slight, although it was evidently intentional, does not affect me in
the least. If you knew me a little better than you do, Dr. O'Grady, you
would understand that I am not at all the sort of person who cares about
presenting bouquets."

"Of course not," said Dr. O'Grady. "We quite realised that. We
understood that in your position, as wife of the resident magistrate of
the district, the presentation of a bouquet would have been infra dig.
After all, what's a bouquet? Poor little Mrs. Gregg! Of course it's a
great promotion for her and she's naturally a bit above herself. But no
one would dream of asking you to present a bouquet. We have far too high
a respect for Mr. Ford's position."

"I think," said Mrs. Ford, "that I ought to have been consulted."

"Didn't you get my letter?"

"I got no letter whatever. The first news I had of his Excellency's
intention of visiting Ballymoy came to me from that Mrs. Gregg half an
hour ago, when she rushed into my drawing-room with her hair tumbling
about her ears----"

"That's the worst