"Are clothes superfluities?" interjected Christine, watching the gradual flushing of her husband's face with mischievous pleasure.
"Nothing is superfluous that is beautiful," said Selford; he lisped slightly, and spoke with an affected air. "We should retrench in the grosser pleasures—eating and drinking, display, large houses——"
"Peculiar dogs!" suggested Blake, chaffing Mrs. Selford.
"Oh, but they are beautiful!" she cried.
"Horses!" said Christine, with sharp-pointed emphasis. "You should really be guided by Mr. Selford, John."
"Every husband should be guided by another husband. That's axiomatic," said Grantley.
"I'm quite content with my own," smiled Mrs. Selford. "Dick and I always agree."
"They must be fresh from a row," Tom Courtland whispered surlily to Mrs. Raymore.
"About money matters the man's voice must in the nature of things be final," Fanshaw insisted. "It's obvious. He knows about it; he makes it——"
"Quite enough for him to do," Christine interrupted. "At that point we step in—and spend it."