'Heavens! You aren't going to play the part of a powdered footman with a moustache?'
'Yes, I shall; Mitchell doesn't know it yet, but I mean to. I can carry it off. I can carry off anything.'
'Well, your mother came back and said that your father had given an ultimatum.'
'Is that all he's given?'
'He will put the thing straight on one condition—it seems it is quite an easy condition; he's going to write and tell it you. Your mother says you must agree at once, not argue, and then everything will be all right.'
'Oh, I am glad. It's all through you, Edith. Thanks, awfully. It's really very good of you. You should have seen how pleased Mitchell was when I said I'd do this for him. Simply delighted. Oh, and Mrs Mitchell is going to call on you. I'll find out which day.'
'I suppose I am to be at home to her now? You told me before not to receive her, you know.'
'Well, no; if you could manage it without being rude, I would rather she only left a card. The Mansions look all right from outside, and they are in a decent neighbourhood and all that, but the flat is so very small. I hardly like her to see it.'
'Really, Bruce, you are absurd. Does Mitchell suppose that you live in a palace?'
'Not a palace, exactly; but I expect I have given him an impression that it is—well—all right.'