Neither White nor his son had changed for dinner, a circumstance which still further prejudiced Ermyntrude against them. Janet White, a somewhat insignificant young woman, whose skirts had a way of dipping in the wrong places, was wearing a garment which she designated as semi-evening dress. It was she who first addressed Ermyntrude, saying with an anxious smile: "I do hope you don't mind us dropping in like this, Mrs. Carter? Father wanted to see Mr. Carter, you see, so I thought probably you wouldn't mind if Alan and I came too. But if you do mind - I mean, if you'd rather we didn't-'
Ermyntrude broke in on this indeterminate speech, her natural kindliness prompting her to say with as much heartiness as she could assume: "Now, you know I'm always pleased to see you and Alan, dear. This is Prince Alexis Varasashvili."
Any fears that Ermyntrude might have nourished that Janet would try to monopolise her exalted guest were soon dispersed. Janet looked flustered, and retreated as soon as she could to Mary's side. Janet was engaged to be married to a tea-planter, living in Ceylon; and although she had so far been unable to reconcile it with her conscience to abandon her father and brother, she was a constant young woman, and found every other man than her tea-planter supremely uninteresting. The Prince alarmed her a little, for she was a simple creature, quite unused to cosmopolitan circles, and instead of listening to his conversation, she began to give Mary an account, in a tiresome undertone, of the tea-planter's adventures, as exemplified in his last letter to her.
Her brother, however, a willowy youth, who cultivated an errant lock of hair, took up a determined position on the sofa beside the Prince, and proclaimed himself to be a fervent admirer of the Russian School.
"And what school might that be?" asked Ermyntrude, bent on putting him in his place.
"My dear Mrs. Carter!" said Alan with a superior smile. "Literature!"
"Oh literature!" said Ermyntrude. "Is that all!"
"All! Yes, I am inclined to think that it is indeed all!"
White, who was waiting by a side-table while Wally mixed a drink for him, overheard this, and said, with a laugh: "That young cub of mine getting astride his hobbyhorse? You snub him, Mrs. Carter, that's my advice to you! If he read less and worked more, he'd do well."
"Oh well!" said Wally tolerantly. "I'm very fond of reading myself. Not in the summer, of course."