“Haw!” he said, which, as Lady Betty once expressed it, was half the note of a jackass.
Here the Kipshavens arrived and their hostess signaled the advance upon the dinner-table.
One of the secrets of the success of Lady Heathcote’s dinners was the size and shape of her table, which seated no more than ten and was round. Her centerpieces were flat and her candelabra low so that any person at the table could see and converse with anyone else. It was thus possible delicately to remind those who insisted on completely appropriating their dinner partners that private matters could be much more safely discussed in the many corners of the house designed for the purpose. Doris sat between Rizzio and Byfield, Hammersley with Lady Joyliffe just opposite, and when Rizzio announced the American girl’s decision to go to France as soon as her training was completed she became the immediate center of interest.
“That’s neutrality of the right sort,” said Kipshaven heartily. “I wish all of your countrymen felt as you do.”
“I think most of them do,” replied Doris, smiling slowly, “but you know, you haven’t always been nice to us. There have been many times when we felt that as an older brother you treated us rather shabbily. I’m heaping coals of fire, you see.”
“Touché!” said Rizzio, with a laugh.
“I bare my head,” said the Earl.
“Ashes to ashes,” from Lady Joyliffe.
Kipshaven smiled. “Once in England gray hairs were venerated, even among the frivolous. Now,” he sighed, “they are only a reproach. Peccavi. Forgive me. I wish I could set the clock back.”
“You’d go?” asked Doris.