“What do you think, Mr. Brumley?” demanded Lady Beach-Mandarin.
“?”
“About Sir Markham’s newspaper symposium. They asked him what allowance he gave his wife. Sent a prepaid reply telegram.”
“But he hasn’t got a wife!”
“They don’t stick at a little thing like that,” said Sir Markham grimly.
“I think a husband and wife ought to have everything in common like the early Christians,” said Lady Beach-Mandarin. “We always did,” and so got the discussion afloat again off the sandbank of Mr. Brumley’s inattention.
It was quite a good discussion and Lady Harman contributed an exceptionally alert and intelligent silence. Sir Markham distrusted Lady Beach-Mandarin’s communism and thought that anyhow it wouldn’t do for a financier or business man. He favoured an allowance. “So did Sir Joshua,” said the widow Viping. This roused Agatha Alimony. “Allowance indeed!” she cried. “Is a wife to be on no better footing than a daughter? The whole question of a wife’s financial autonomy needs reconsidering....”
Adolphus Blenker became learned and lucid upon Pin-money and dowry and the customs of savage tribes, and Mr. Brumley helped with corroboration....
Mr. Brumley managed to say just one other thing to Lady Harman before the lunch was over. It struck her for a moment as being irrelevant. “The gardens at Hampton Court,” he said, “are delightful just now. Have you seen them? Autumnal fires. All the September perennials lifting their spears in their last great chorus. It’s the Götterdämmerung of the year.”
She was going out of the room before she appreciated his possible intention.