ith a glance--"are the upper ten!"

"Precisely. You can tell that from their polish."

"Rather exclusive, aren't they?"

"Collectively, yes, madam. Individually, they will receive you with
open arms. Only last night an order arrived from--"

"I know. Madagascar. You're no good as a sales-man."

I drew myself up.

"From Honolulu, for twenty-two 'God-sends.'" I said icily.
"Madagascar's request was for 'Duchesses.'"

"That, over there, is a 'Wallsend,'--I mean 'God-send.'"

"And I suppose you've supplied Cochin China for years."

"One of our oldest clients," said I.

"You know," said she, "when I look round, I feel as if I had never seen
a bath before."

"I know. I felt just like that at first. And yet I have," I added
thoughtfully; "they had one at a hotel I stayed at last Easter. At
Biarritz, that was."

"I wish you'd be serious," she said, laughing. "Then you might be of
some use."

"I don't think you're at all kind," said I, leaning against the screen
of 'The Duchess' with a dejected air.

"Excuse me," she said, "but is that the Slinker Slouch I've heard of?
Your attitude, I mean?"

"No," I said shortly. "It's the Leicester Lounge. But, to return to
your unkindness. I want a bath just as much as you do."

She recoiled. "You know what I mean. I'm a customer, like you. We're
both in the same ba-boat. And I have been doing my best to indicate
the merits of--er--of--"

"The idle rich," she said, smiling. "Yes, but you see you shouldn't
have. When you saw me coming you ought to have--"

"Dodged behind a pillar, picked up my stick and gloves, and kept about
ten bath-lengths away, until the partner reappeared? No doubt. But,
then, you shouldn't have looked so priceless, or worn your sense of
humour on your sleeve. You shouldn't have had a small, straight nose
or a mouth like a red flower. You shouldn't have walked like a
thoroughbred, or carried your clothes as if they were worth wearing.
You shouldn't have had eyes I could see to read by, if the light
failed."

"Finished?"

"No. But listen. I think I hear the partner coming--the genuine
article, this time." There was no sound.

"Anyway," I went on, "he'll be back in a moment; and so, as I'm afraid
I didn't consider you just now, I'll try and make up for it. Good-bye."

"But what about your bath? Have you seen one you like?"

"Yes," said I. "I have. One. Not a bath, though. But I can easily
come another day."

I