“And why should you, child? I have been watching for you all morning. I want to hear about the Denning dinner. I suppose you went?”
“Yes, we went; we had to. Dinners in strange houses are a common calamity; I can’t expect to be spared what everyone has to endure.”
“Don’t be affected, Ethel. You like going out to dinner. Of course, you do! It is only natural, considering.”
“I don’t, Granny. I like dances and theaters and operas, but I don’t like dinners. However, the Denning dinner was a grand exception. It gave me and the others a sensation.”
“I expected that.”
“It was beautifully ordered. Majordomo Parkinson saw to that. If he had arranged it for his late employer, the Duke of Richmond, it could not have been finer. There was not a break anywhere.”
“How many were present?”
“Just a dozen.”
“Mr. Denning and Bryce, of course. Who were the others?”
“Mr. Stanhope, of course. Granny, he wore his clerical dress. It made him look so remarkable.”