In a moment she had stirred up the Pekingese.
They forgot their manners. They barked vociferously; and Zoe's starch
was taken out of her by Poo, who rushed under her skirts. Lissa laughed
and jumped up.

'Here Vic,' said Duckie ponderously, 'give us a hand, old girl. Never
can jump about after gin and bitters,' she added confidentially as they
helped her up.

The ice was effectually broken. They filed into the dining-room in
pairs, Victoria and Lissa being slim playing the part of men. How they
gobbled up the hors d'oeuvres and how golden the John Dory was; the
flanks of the fish shone like an old violin. Augusta flitted about
quick but noisy. There was a smile on her face.

'Steady on, old love,' said Duckie to her as the maid inadvertently
poured her claret into a tumbler.

'Never you mind, Gussie,' cried Zoe, bursting with familiarity, 'she'll
be having it in a bucket by and by.'

Augusta laughed. What easy going _herrschaft_!

The talk was getting racier now. By the time they got to the dessert the
merriment was rather supper than lunch-like.

'Victoria plums,' said Lissa, 'let us name them _Bonne Hotesse_.'

The idea was triumphant. Duckie insisted on drinking a toast in hock,
for she never hesitated to mix her wines. Victoria smiled at them
indulgently. The youth of all this and the jollity, the ease of it; all
that was not of her old class.

'Confusion to the puritans,' she cried, and drained her glass. Snoo and
Poo were fighting for scraps, for Duckie was already getting uncertain
in her aim. Lissa and Zoe, like nymphs teasing Bacchus, were pelting her
with plum stones, but she seemed quite unconscious of their pranks. They
had some difficulty in getting her into the boudoir for coffee and
liqueurs; once on the sofa she tried to go to sleep. Her companions
roused her, however; the scent of coffee, acrid and stimulating, stung
their nostrils; the liqueurs shone wickedly, green and golden in their
glass bottles; talk became more individual, more reminiscent. Here and
there a joke shot up like a rocket or stuck quivering in Duckie's placid
flanks.

'Well Vic,' said Zoe, 'you are very well _installee_.' She slowly
emptied of cigarette smoke her expanded cheeks and surveyed the
comfortable little room.

'Did you do it yourself?' asked Lissa. 'It must have cost you a lot of
money.'

'Oh, I didn't pay.' Victoria was either getting less reticent or the
liqueur was playing her tricks. 'I began with a man