There was no gayer supper party in the Savoy that night, and the champagne paid for with the proceeds of “Baby’s Boredom” proved none the less vivifying for the insipidity of its source. Dick insisted upon reciting his doggerel, and Quin was not only much toasted as “Lady Bounce”, but carried kicking round the room by the giant, because in a moment of forgetfulness he used a swear-word, which they all insisted was a reflecton upon the conversation of his illustrious aunt.
Lorraine, in most amusing form herself, laughed until she was tired out, and wondered why she was not bored. She asked the question of Alymer Hermon, who was privileged to see her home, while Dick returned with Hal, and Quin beat a hasty retreat to get rid of his disguise.
“After all, you are only boys,” she said, with a little smile, “and I’m... well, I’m Lorraine Vivian.”
The giant gazed thoughtfully out of the brougham window a moment, and from her corner Lorraine looked long, and a little sadly, at the finely modelled head and profile.
“Perhaps,” he said at length, “a great many people you meet make a special effort to please you, and try to make an impression on you. We being all so young, and just nobodies, realise the uselessness of wasting our efforts, and are merely natural.”
She smiled in the shadow, and glanced away from him with the sadness deepening.
“I feel tonight I should like to be one of you—so young and just nobody. It would be a pleasant change.”
“I don’t think you would like it at all.”
He looked at her with a slightly puzzled air.
“Only the other day you were speaking to me of achievement and ambition. You seemed to care so much. You must be glad.”