"Tony has brought his wife to see you," said her daughter. "They only reached Clare last night."
"Tony's wife?" repeated the old lady. "And who may she be? Chatfield, if Paignton marries an actress you understand that I leave here at once? I've made that quite clear, I hope?"
"If you have, Lady Chatfield," said Dorothy, "I'm sure that Paignton won't marry an actress."
"Who's that talking to me?"
At this moment Arabella and Constantia, who, because their noses were respectively too small and too large, easily caught cold, sneezed simultaneously.
"Augusta," said the super-dowager.
"Yes, mamma."
"Don't tell me that's not Bella and Connie, because I know it is. Can nothing be done about their taking cold like this? They never come here but they must go sneezing and sniffing about, until one might suppose Chatfield was draughty."
Considering that for her peregrinations the super-dowager insisted upon every door of the ground floor's being left open, one might have been justified in supposing so.
"Where's that girl?" demanded the old lady. "Why doesn't she come close? Has she got a cold, too?"