SHIN SHIRA AND THE DUCHESS
It all began with the collar-stud—at least I put it down at that.
You see, I was dressing rather nervously to go to a charity "At Home" at the Duchess of Kingslake's. I had not met the lady previously, but some young friends of mine had been invited to the "At Home," and they had persuaded the Duchess to ask me too.
I do not know many titled people, and had never before visited a real live Duchess, so I was just telling myself that I must really be on my very best behaviour, and above all, that I must not be late in arriving. The card had mentioned "4 to 6.30," and it was past three o'clock now.
I was just struggling to fix my collar, which was rather stiff and tight, when suddenly the stud popped out and rolled away to—where?
Down I got on my hands and knees, and groped about in every direction that I could think of. I lit a candle, and searched in every available hiding-place; but no—no collar-stud could be anywhere found.
And the time was going on. I rang the bell for Mrs. Putchy, my housekeeper.
"Please, Mrs. Putchy, send at once to the nearest hosier's and buy me a plain collar-stud, and kindly ask Mary to get back as quickly as possible. I am expecting the cab every moment."
"It is at the door, sir," said Mrs. Putchy; "and I don't know, I'm sure, where Mary will be able to get a collar-stud for you to-day. This is Thursday, you know, sir, early closing day."
Too true. It was indeed most unfortunate. In my neighbourhood all the shops close at two o'clock Thursdays, and it would have been as easy to buy a collar-stud as an elephant at Kensington just then.