"And why not for tea also?" said he. "Are they not gifts alike?"
"Very much alike," said Miss Todd, "and so is a cake at a pastry-cook's. But we don't say grace over our buns."
"We do, in silence," said Mr Maguire, still standing; "and therefore we ought to have it out loud here."
"I don't see the argument; but you're very welcome."
"Thank you," said Mr Maguire; and then he said his grace. He said it with much poetic emphasis, and Miss Mackenzie, who liked any little additional excitement, thought that Miss Todd had been wrong.
"You've a deal of society here, no doubt," said Mr Rubb to Miss Baker, while Miss Todd was dispensing her tea.
"I suppose it's much the same as other places," said Miss Baker. "Those who know many people can go out constantly if they like it."
"And it's so easy to get to know people," said Mr Rubb. "That's what makes me like these sort of places so much. There's no stiffness and formality, and all that kind of thing. Now in London, you don't know your next neighbour, though you and he have lived there for ten years."
"Nor here either, unless chance brings you together."
"Ah; but there is none of that horrid decorum here," said Mr Rubb. "There's nothing I hate like decorum. It prevents people knowing each other, and being jolly and happy together. Now, the French know more about society than any people, and I'm told they have none of it."