Kit sighed.
"Dear old gentleman!" she said. "Alice, I would give anything to be an old gentleman with white whiskers and a silly little yacht. Yes, I know, it is an impossible dream. About the baccarat, what were you saying?"
"I have things to say, if you will be so kind as to attend. Try to forget about your white whiskers, Kit."
"Yes, I will. There were no such white whiskers."
"Last night," said Lady Haslemere, "I lost two hundred and forty pounds and sixpence."
"How sixpence? What small stakes you must have been playing! Was it the game where you try to get nine?"
"Yes," said Alice, "and I lost the sixpence because I dropped it on the floor. I don't know how I got it, and I don't know what happened to it."
"Like Melchisedech," put in Kit.
"Exactly. Anyhow, I dropped it, and it just shows what extraordinary people people are. We all took candles and grovelled on the ground looking for that sixpence. Losing it annoyed me more than I can say. I didn't care so much about the rest."
"I should have cared much more," said Kit very fervently. "But you are quite right. And it explains to a certain extent how a very rich man like Mr. Alington can cheat over a few shillings."