'Now do I look like a person who——'
'Well, you see we're all so certain they're such abominations,' said Vida, 'I thought maybe some of us knew something about them.'
Dick Farnborough was heard saying to Lord John in a tone of cheerful vigour—
'Locking up is too good for 'em. I'd give 'em a good thrashin'.'
'Spirited fellow!' said Miss Levering, promptly, with an accent that brought down a laugh on the young gentleman's head.
He joined in it, but with a naïf uneasiness. What's the matter with the woman?—his vaguely bewildered face seemed to inquire. After all, I'm only agreeing with her.
'Few of us have time, I imagine,' said Filey, 'to go and listen to their ravings.'
As Filey was quite the idlest of men, without the preoccupation of being a tolerable sportsman or even a player of games, Miss Levering's little laugh was echoed by others beside Lady Sophia.
'At all events,' said Vida to Lord Borrodaile, as she stood up, and he drew her chair out of her way, 'even if we don't know much about these women, we've spent a happy hour denouncing them.'
'Who's going to have a short round before sundown?' said Lady Sophia, getting up briskly. 'You, of course, Mr. Filey. Or are you too "busy"?'