n't as good as anybody in
the world, in the sense you pretended to take my words. We were talking
of something quite different."

"Sorry, Muriel," replied Cicely. This was another formula. "We did go to
a dance at Aunt Emmeline's, you know. If I hadn't been to all those
other houses I should have enjoyed it immensely. Well, I did enjoy
it--better, really. Aunt Emmeline saw that I had heaps of partners and I
got on well with them. They were mostly barristers and people like that.
They took the trouble to talk, and some of them even made me talk. It is
a lovely house--of course not like one of the great London houses, but
with two big drawing-rooms, and Iff's band, and everything done very
well. If I had gone straight up from here to that ball, it would have
been one of the best I had ever gone to."

"Well, Mr. Birket is a famous barrister, and I suppose is very well off
too. I should think he knows as many interesting people as anybody."

"Interesting people, yes; but there wasn't a soul there that I had seen
at the other houses, except Dick and Humphrey."

"Were they there?"

"There!" cried Cicely triumphantly. "You see you are quite surprised at
that."

"Well," said Muriel firmly, "they _were_ there. And how did they
behave?"

"Oh, they behaved all right. Humphrey went away early, but Dick stayed
quite a long time. Dick can be very sweet if he likes, and he doesn't
give himself airs, really--he only takes it for granted that he is a
great personage. And so he is; you would say so if you saw him in
London. Do you know, Muriel, I was next to the Duchess of Pevensey at
Dunster House, and I heard her whisper to her daughter, quite sharply,
'Evelyn, keep a valse for Captain Clinton, in case he asks you.' Of
course she hadn't an idea that I was Captain Clinton's sister. She had
looked down her nose at me just before, and wondered what I was doing
there."

"I suppose she didn't say so."

"Her nose did. You should have seen her face when Dick came up the
moment after and said, 'Here you are, Siskin; come and have a spin'; and
didn't take any notice of dear Evelyn, who must have been at least
thirty."

"Well, go on about Mrs. Birket's."

"Yes, well, Dick said, 'Now, Siskin, I don't know any of the pretty
ladies here, and I'm going to dance with you.' But when Aunt Emmeline
came up and insisted upon introducing him to a lot of girls, he went off
as nicely as possible and danced with the whole lot of them. And, you