le--now and then," said Concepcion.

Later, when the chaise-longue and Queen's shoes had been replaced, and
the tea-things and the head of John the Baptist taken away, and
all the lights extinguished save one over the mantelpiece, and Lady
Queenie had nearly finished the whisky-and-soda, and nothing remained
of the rehearsal except the safety-pin between Lady Queenie's knees,
G.J. was still waiting for her to bethink herself of the Hospitals
subject upon which he had called by special request and appointment
to see her. He took oath not to mention it first. Shortly afterwards,
stiff in his resolution, he departed.

In three minutes he was in the smoking-room of his club, warming
himself at a fine, old, huge, wasteful grate, in which burned such
a coal fire as could not have been seen in France, Italy, Germany,
Austria, Russia, nor anywhere on the continent of Europe. The war had
as yet changed nothing in the impregnable club, unless it was that
ordinary matches had recently been substituted for the giant matches
on which the club had hitherto prided itself. The hour lay neglected
midway between tea and dinner, and there were only two other members
in the vast room--solitaries, each before his own grand fire.

G.J. took up _The Times_, which his duties had prevented him from
reading at large in the morning. He wandered with a sense of ease
among its multifarious pages, and, in full leisure, brought his
information up to date concerning the state of the war and of the
country. Air-raids by Zeppelins were frequent, and some authorities
talked magniloquently about the "defence of London." Hundreds of
people had paid immense sums for pictures and objects of art at the
Red Cross Sale at Christie's, one of the most successful social events
of the year. The House of Commons was inquisitive about Mesopotamia
as a whole, and one British Army was still trying to relieve another
British Army besieged in Kut. German submarine successes were
obviously disquieting. The supply of beer was reduced. There were to
be forty principal aristocratic dancers in the Pageant of Terpsichore.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer had budgeted for five hundred
millions, and was very proud. The best people were at once proud and
scared of the new income tax at 5s. in the L. They expressed the
fear that such a tax would kill income or send it to America. The
theatrical profession was quite sure that the amusements tax would
involve utter ruin for the th