"I am sure you are right," said the obliging Mrs. Carmyle.
"Was Norah Puncheon of the party, by any chance?" enquired Lady Adela carelessly.
"No. I did n't know any of the people. Is Norah a friend of Dicky's?"
"They have seen a good deal of one another of late, I believe," replied the diplomatic Lady Adela, much as a motorist with his radiator full of feathers might admit having recently noticed a hen somewhere. "Constance dear," she continued, coming in her maternal solicitude quite prematurely to the point, "you are always so discreet. It is high time Dick was married, and this time I really do think--no, I feel it instinctively--that Norah Puncheon is the right woman for him."
"The right woman!" replied the late First Reserve pensively. "How awful that always sounds! The wrong one is always so much nicer!"
"My dear," exclaimed the horrified Lady Adela, "whoever put such a notion into your head?"
"Dicky. He told me so himself."
"Has Norah Puncheon much influence over him, do you know?" continued Lady Adela, falling back on to safer ground.
"Yes, lots," replied Connie, stifling the tiniest of yawns. "There goes your telephone."
"Milroy will attend to it, dear. Let me see," pursued Lady Adela, with studious vagueness--"what were we talking about?"