uous remark by pouring out information concerning herself, her
companions, and their plans.

She was from Australia, and intimated that her father, lately dead, had
left plenty of money. She had met Lord and Lady Dauntrey a month ago in
Brighton at the Metropole. Where the Dauntreys had "picked up the
Collises," Dodo Wardropp did not know, but they were "late
acquisitions." "Lord and Lady Dauntrey have taken a furnished villa at
Monte for the season," she went on, "a big one, so they can have lots of
guests. I and the Collises are the first instalment, but they're
expecting others: two or three men with titles."

She said this as if "titles" were a disease, like measles. As she rubbed
off the day's powder and paint with cold cream, there was a nice smell
in the little room of the _wagon lit_, like the scent of a theatrical
dressing-room.

"I suppose you're looking forward to a delightful winter," Mary
ventured, from her berth, as Dodo hid a low-necked lace nightgown under
a pink silk kimono embroidered with gold.

"I hope!" exclaimed Miss Wardropp. "I pay for it, anyhow. I don't mind
telling, as you aren't going to Monte, and won't know any of them, that
we're sort of glorified paying-guests. The Collises haven't said to me
they're that, and I haven't said what I am; but we know. I'm paying
fourteen guineas a week for my visit, and I've a sneaking idea her
ladyship's saving up the best room for other friends who'll give more. I
could live at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, I expect, for that
price, but you see the catch is that Lord and Lady Dauntrey can
introduce their guests to swell people. I wouldn't meet the right kind
if I lived in a hotel, even with a first-rate chaperon. I know, for I
came to Monte Carlo with an Australian friend, for a few days on my way
to England. It's no use being at a resort if you don't get into the
smart set, is it?"

"I suppose not," said Mary. "But I think I care more about places than
people."

"I don't understand that feeling. I want to get in with the best. And
though Lord Dauntrey's poor, and I imagine disappointed in expectations
of money with her, he must be acquainted with a lot of important titled
people. He's a viscount, you know, and that's pretty high up."

"I didn't know," Mary confessed. "I don't know anything about society."

"You seem to have led a retired sort of life," Miss Wardropp remarked,
though without much curiosity, for she was not really interested i