liar, at
best), and they won't look at him or her. Now our Disentanglers are not
going to be plain, or dull, or old, or stale, or commonplace--we'll take
care of that. My dear fellow, don't you know how dismal the _parti_
selected for a man or girl invariably is? Now _we_ provide a different
and superior article, a _fresh_ article too, not a familiar bore or a
neighbour.'

'Well, there is a good deal in that, as you say,' Logan admitted. 'But
decent people will think the whole speculation shady. How are you to get
round that? There is something you have forgotten.'

'What?' Merton asked.

'Why it stares you in the face. References. Unexceptionable references;
people will expect them all round.'

'Please don't say "unexceptionable"; say "references beyond the reach of
cavil."' Merton was a purist. 'It costs more in advertisements, but my
phrase at once enlists the sympathy of every liberal and elegant mind.
But as to references (and I am glad that you have some common sense,
Logan), there is, let me see, there is the Dowager.'

'The divine Althaea--Marchioness of Bowton?'

'The same,' said Merton. 'The oldest woman, and the most recklessly up-
to-date in London. She has seen _bien d'autres_, and wants to see more.'

'She will do; and my aunt,' Logan said.

'Not, oh, of course not, the one who left her money to the Armenians?'
Merton asked.

'No, another. And there's old Lochmaben's young wife, my cousin, widely
removed, by marriage. She is American, you know, and perhaps you know
her book, _Social Experiments_?'

'Yes, it is not half bad,' Merton conceded, 'and her heart will be in
what I fear she will call "the new departure." And she is pretty, and
highly respected in the parish.'

'And there's my aunt I spoke of, or great aunt, Miss Nicky Maxwell. The
best old thing: a beautiful monument of old gentility, and she would give
her left hand to help any one of the clan.'

'She will do. And there's Mrs. Brown-Smith, Lord Yarrow's daughter, who
married the patent soap man. _Elle est capable de tout_. A real good
woman, but full of her fun.'

'That will do for the lady patronesses. We must secure them at once.'

'But won't the clients blab?' Logan suggested.

'They can't,' Merton said. 'They would be laughed at consumedly. It
will be their interest to hold their tongues.'

'Well, let us hope that they will see it in that light.' Logan was not
too sanguine.

Merton had a better opi