"The Bishop knows a great deal too much for a man in his position," snapped his sister.
"Quite so," thought the journalist, "and doesn't confide it to you." Aloud he remarked:
"Of course there's nothing particular to be said against them, except that they're hardly in Cecil's set."
"I didn't need you to tell me that. But what about the ladies?"
"Ah, yes, the ladies. Well, really, you've put me in an awkward position, Miss Banborough. One can't be uncomplimentary to the fair sex, you know."
"Humph! Well, Josephus sees more of both of them than is good for him. But of course Mrs. Mackintosh has neither the youth nor the good looks to cause me any anxiety."
"Mrs. Mackintosh is eminently respectable," said Marchmont, who always spoke the truth when it did not conflict with business.
"But Miss Arminster?"
The journalist did not answer.
"Well," she cried, "why don't you speak?"