was auburn and separated in the middle by a wide parting; he had
close-cut whiskers of a lighter red, which met in his moustache, and if
his eyes had been narrow, instead of round and filmy like a seal's, and
his mouth had been firm, and not loose and slightly open, he would not
have been at all a bad caricature of his Majesty King Henry the Eighth.

"Nothing--except, but I'll tell you about that afterwards. Sit down, do,
and don't fidget.... Well, I've been thinking, Sidney, that we really
ought to ask the Chevril Thistletons to a quiet little dinner. Not to
meet any of our _usual_ set, of course! We could have the dear Rector,
who, if he _is_ Low Church, is very well connected--and Lady Harriet
Elmslie."

Mr. Stimpson showed no enthusiasm at the suggestion. "Lady Elmslie,
Selina!" he cried. "But we don't _know_ her ladyship!"

"I do wish you would learn to use titles correctly, Sidney! Lady
_Harriet_ Elmslie--not Lady _Elmslie_! And you shouldn't speak of her,
except to servants, as 'her ladyship'; that's only done by inferiors."

"Well, my love, whatever may be the correct way of speaking of her, the
fact remains that we haven't the honour of her acquaintance."

"That's just where you're mistaken! We _have_, or at least _I_ have;"
and she described how she had come to enjoy that privilege.

"Well," he admitted at the conclusion, "she certainly seems to have made
herself exceedingly affable, but it doesn't follow that she'd come and
dine, even if we asked her."

"She would if it was to meet the Thistletons."

"Perhaps so, my love, but--er--we don't know that _they_ would come."

"Of course they would, if they knew we were expecting Lady Harriet. For
goodness' sake, Sidney, don't swing your foot like that--you know I
can't bear it. All _you_ have to do is to find out from Mr. Thistleton
what evenings the week after next would be most convenient, and _I'll_
undertake the rest!"

"I--I really couldn't do that, Selina. I'm a proud man, in my way, and I
don't care about exposing myself unnecessarily to a rebuff."

"Why should you be rebuffed? After all, he's only a junior partner!"

"True, my love, but that doesn't make him less stand-offish. He may be
_in_ the business, but he's not _of_ it. I doubt myself whether even old
Cramphorn would venture to invite him to dinner, and if he did, I'd bet
a tidy sum that the Honourable Mr. Chevril Thistleton----"

"Mr.--_not_ the Honourable _Mr._ Thistleton, Sidney," cor