"Is Cleopatra very bad then?" Sir Joseph enquired anxiously.
"So bad that she would have been suicidal if steps had not been taken immediately. You see it isn't everybody who is so lukewarm, so anæmic, as to make a cheerful old maid. Cheery old maids are the condemnation of modern English womanhood Their frequency in England shows the shallowness of the average modern woman's passion. Among all warm-blooded peoples old maids are known to be bitter, resentful, untractable and misanthropic."
"Are they really?" exclaimed Sir Joseph. "I didn't know that."
Mrs. Delarayne came towards them.
"Lord Henry," she cried, "Cleopatra is coming to lunch. You have already done wonders with her. At least she wants to be well now. That's a great triumph."
The remainder of the party now came up the garden towards the house.
"Lord Henry!" Leonetta cried, skipping up to his side, bearing a kitten. "Do you like cats? Look at this little angel!"
Lord Henry, without looking at her, raised a hand deprecatingly.
"We are not out of the wood yet," he murmured in an aside to Mrs. Delarayne.
"Oh, she's scratching,—do look at her, Lord Henry!" Leonetta exclaimed, a little over anxiously this time, as she was not used to having her self-advertising manœuvres disregarded in this manner.