Josephine shook her head.
"Tannhãuser! I am sorry, Mr. Phipps, but I couldn't possibly stand it.
Ask us another time, won't you? To-morrow night," she went on, turning to
Wingate, "let us be absolutely frivolous. A revue, I think."
"And dinner first at the Milan," Wingate insisted.
"And supper afterwards and a dance at Ciro's," Sarah put in. "I must tell
Jimmy the glad tidings."
Peter Phipps made his adieux to Lady Amesbury early and drove in his electric coupé first to Romano's, then to the Milan and finally to Ciro's. Here he found Dredlinton, seated in a corner by himself, a little sulky at the dancing proclivities of the young lady whom he had brought. He greeted Phipps with some surprise.
"Hullo, Dreadnought!" he exclaimed. "What's wrong with my garrulous aunt? Has the party broken up early or weren't you a success?"
"I wasn't a success," Phipps confessed grimly. "Look here, Dredlinton, are you sober enough to talk horse common sense?"
"Sober? My God, can you tell me how any one can get a drink here!" was the injured reply. "I was just off somewhere else. One bottle of champagne, if you please, between two of us, and the liqueur brandies were served with the soup. Call this—a Christian country!"
"Then if you're sober, and for once you seem to be," Phipps said, "just listen to me. Listen hard, mind, and don't interrupt. Have you ever wondered why I put you on the Board of the B.& I.?"
"My title, I suppose—and social position."