her members,
and Mrs. Leveret exclaimed: "I do believe she came on purpose to be
nasty!"

It was Mrs. Plinth's private opinion that Osric Dane's attitude toward
the Lunch Club might have been very different had it welcomed her in the
majestic setting of the Plinth drawing-rooms; but not liking to reflect
on the inadequacy of Mrs. Ballinger's establishment she sought a
round-about satisfaction in depreciating her savoir faire.

"I said from the first that we ought to have had a subject ready. It's
what always happens when you're unprepared. Now if we'd only got up
Xingu--"

The slowness of Mrs. Plinth's mental processes was always allowed for
by the Club; but this instance of it was too much for Mrs. Ballinger's
equanimity.

"Xingu!" she scoffed. "Why, it was the fact of our knowing so much more
about it than she did--unprepared though we were--that made Osric Dane
so furious. I should have thought that was plain enough to everybody!"

This retort impressed even Mrs. Plinth, and Laura Glyde, moved by an
impulse of generosity, said: "Yes, we really ought to be grateful
to Mrs. Roby for introducing the topic. It may have made Osric Dane
furious, but at least it made her civil."

"I am glad we were able to show her," added Miss Van Vluyck, "that a
broad and up-to-date culture is not confined to the great intellectual
centres."

This increased the satisfaction of the other members, and they began
to forget their wrath against Osric Dane in the pleasure of having
contributed to her defeat.

Miss Van Vluyck thoughtfully rubbed her spectacles. "What surprised me
most," she continued, "was that Fanny Roby should be so up on Xingu."

This frank admission threw a slight chill on the company, but Mrs.
Ballinger said with an air of indulgent irony: "Mrs. Roby always has the
knack of making a little go a long way; still, we certainly owe her a
debt for happening to remember that she'd heard of Xingu." And this was
felt by the other members to be a graceful way of cancelling once for
all the Club's obligation to Mrs. Roby.

Even Mrs. Leveret took courage to speed a timid shaft of irony: "I fancy
Osric Dane hardly expected to take a lesson in Xingu at Hillbridge!"

Mrs. Ballinger smiled. "When she asked me what we represented--do you
remember?--I wish I'd simply said we represented Xingu!"

All the ladies laughed appreciatively at this sally, except Mrs. Plinth,
who said, after a moment's deliberation: "I'm not sure it w