"Look here!" cried Stanley. "I won't stand that sort of thing!"
"Beg your pardon, I was thinking aloud, beastly bad habit, purely reminiscent, I assure you. Go on."
"Well, of course I saw something of her after that. Aunt invited me to call, also to dine."
"What about that trip down the Thames?"
"Why, I'd arranged my party for that before I met Belle—I mean Miss Fitzgerald."
"Oh, call her Belle, I know you do."
"And she happened to mention, quite accidentally, that one of her unaccomplished ideals was a trip down the Thames. I fear she's shockingly cramped for money you know, so as I happened to have a vacant place——"
"You naturally invited her— I wonder how she found out there was a vacant place," mused Kent-Lauriston.
"My dear fellow," reiterated Stanley. "I tell you she didn't even know I was getting it up. Of course if she had, she'd never have spoken of it. Miss Fitzgerald is far above touting for an invitation."
"Of course. Well you must have advanced considerably in your acquaintance during the trip. Had her quite to yourself, as it were, since I suppose she knew none of the party."