Nell approached her respectfully.
“You may like it better after supper, madame,” she suggested, mildly. “A good spread, sparkling wine and most congenial company have cast a halo o’er more time-begrimed rafters than these.”
“Who are you, madame?” inquired the Duchess, haughtily.
“A fellow-passenger on the earth,” gently replied Nell, “and a lover of good company, and–some wine.”
“Yes?” said the Duchess, in a way that only a woman can ask and answer a question with a “yes” and with a look such as only a woman can give another woman when she asks and answers that little question with a “yes.”
There was a moment’s pause.
The Duchess continued: “Perhaps you have seen the cavalier I await.”
“Marry, not I,” replied Nell, promptly; and she bethought her that she had kept a pretty sharp lookout for him, too.
“Is this a proper place for a lady to visit?” pompously inquired the Duchess.
“You raise the first doubt,” said Nell quickly.