be
few more versatile than Mrs. Waddesleigh Peagrim. I am amazed every
time I go to her delightful home on West End Avenue to see the scope
and variety of her circle of intimates. Here you will see an
ambassador with a fever....'"

"With a _what_?" demanded Mrs. Peagrim sharply.

"'Fever,' I thought you said," replied Miss Frisby stolidly. "I wrote
'fever.'"

"'Diva.' Do use your intelligence, my good girl. Go on."

"Here you will see an ambassador with a diva from the opera,
exchanging the latest gossip from the chancelleries for intimate news
of the world behind the scenes. There, the author of the latest novel
talking literature to the newest debutante. Truly one may say that
Mrs. Peagrim has revived the saloon.'"

Mrs. Peagrim bit her lip.

"'Salon.'"

"'Salon,'" said Miss Frisby unemotionally. "They tell me, I am told, I
am informed....'" She paused. "That's all I have."

"Scratch out those last words," said Mrs. Peagrim irritably. "You
really are hopeless, Miss Frisby! Couldn't you see that I had stopped
dictating and was searching for a phrase? Otie, what is a good phrase
for 'I am told'?"

Mr. Pilkington forced his wandering attention to grapple with the
problem.

"'I hear,'" he suggested at length.

"Tchah!" ejaculated his aunt. Then her face brightened. "I have it.
Take dictation, please, Miss Frisby. 'A little bird whispers to me
that there were great doings last night on the stage of the Gotham
Theatre after the curtain had fallen on "The Rose of America," which,
as everybody knows, is the work of Mrs. Peagrim's clever young nephew,
Otis Pilkington.'" Mrs. Peagrim shot a glance at her clever young
nephew, to see how he appreciated the boost, but Otis' thoughts were
far away once more. He was lying on his spine, brooding, brooding.
Mrs. Peagrim resumed her dictation. "'In honour of the extraordinary
success of the piece, Mrs. Peagrim, who certainly does nothing by
halves, entertained the entire company to a supper-dance after the
performance. A number of prominent people were among the guests, and
Mrs. Peagrim was a radiant and vivacious hostess. She has never looked
more charming. The high jinks were kept up to an advanced hour, and
every one agreed that they had never spent a more delightful evening.'
There! Type as many copies as are necessary, Miss Frisby, and send
them out this afternoon with photographs."

Miss Frisby having vanished in her pallid way, the radiant and
vivacious hostes