"Very likely. It's hard to say anything original nowadays."
"I suppose," said Archie, after a pause, "that when your chaperon is chosen by Mr. Dombrain, she will come down here."
"Oh, dear, no. I'm going home next week with the Valpys."
"Home?"
"Yes. To Thornstream, near Deswarth, in Berkshire. Papa's house, you know."
"And I'll never see you again," he said dismally.
"Oh, I don't know; the world is small."
Maxwell groaned in vexation of spirit, thinking that the heart of this desirable maiden was as the flint which is hard; and the maiden herself, having thus worried her mouse, consoled it in a pleasant fashion.
"Besides, Berkshire is not very far from London."
"I know that, of course, but I have no acquaintances in Deswarth."