"The cry of Woman's Rights, my dear Edna, was a catchword which has passed out of the language while Miss Marchrose was still in the nursery," said Sir Julian suavely; "consequently it probably conveys nothing to her generation, whatever it may do to ours."
Julian was quite conscious of the anything but doubtful taste of this chivalrous rebuke, and felt rather grateful to Iris for breaking in with the artless and time-honoured statement that she always had all the rights she wanted, and men always seemed ready to give up their seats in omnibuses or railway carriages so as to offer them to her. She also added that she could not think why this was.
Sir Julian gave her the required explanation of the phenomenon, while Mark turned with a certain aspect of relief to his neighbour, Miss Marchrose, and Mr. Douglas Garrett and Lady Rossiter looked disapprovingly at one another and both began to talk at once with immense firmness and determination.
Julian never knew by what means his wife accomplished her end, but at a later stage of dinner, when Mark and Miss Marchrose had been laughing at one another's jokes for some time, Edna's voice suddenly fell audible on the other side of the table addressing herself to Mr. Garrett: "... but Clarence Isbister is the only son, and a particularly nice boy."
Julian would not look at Miss Marchrose, but Edna's voice had been so distinct that both Mark and she stopped speaking. It was Iris, however, with the praiseworthy instinct of her kind for following up any clue, however remote, that might eventually lead to an only son, who asked:
"Are those the Shropshire Isbisters?"
"A branch of the same family. But I was telling Mr.—er——"
Edna made a slight and insultingly-meant pretence at having forgotten Mr. Garrett's name. Nobody supplied it, unless an exception be made of Iris, who murmured that everyone called him Douglas.
"——About some dear cousins of mine, Isbisters—people who live in Queen's Gate Gardens most of the year."
Lady Rossiter paused, looking straight at Miss Marchrose, who said nothing at all, and looked calmly back at her.