“That is the first—and very becoming,” said Lady Franks.
“Oh, very becoming! Very becoming!” said the tall wife of the Major—she was a handsome young woman of the tall, frail type.
“Do you think so, my dear?” said the old man, with his eternal smile: the curious smile of old people when they are dead.
“Not only becoming, Sir,” said the Major, bending his tall, slim figure forwards. “But a reassuring sign that a nation knows how to distinguish her valuable men.”
“Quite!” said Lady Franks. “I think it is a very great honour to have got it. The king was most gracious, too— Now the other. That goes beside it—the Italian—”
Sir William stood there undergoing the operation of the pinning-on. The Italian star being somewhat smaller than the British, there was a slight question as to where exactly it should be placed. However, Arthur decided it: and the old man stood before the company with his two stars on his breast.
“And now the Ruritanian,” said Lady Franks eagerly.
“That doesn't go on the same level with the others, Lady Franks,” said Arthur. “That goes much lower down—about here.”
“Are you sure?” said Lady Franks. “Doesn't it go more here?”
“No no, no no, not at all. Here! Isn't it so, Sybil?”