"I beg your pardon?" said Lady Adela.
"A Banks," repeated Tilly politely.
Lady Adela nodded her head intelligently.
"Ah, to be sure!" she said. "Let me see. Are they a Warwickshire family, now?"
"Or is it a Cornish name?" queried Sylvia, with an encouraging smile.
"No," said Tilly. "Mother came from Bedfordshire--or else Cambridgeshire," she added rather breathlessly, for the four eyes of the sphinxes were upon her once more.
"But, dear Miss Welwyn--" began Sylvia.
I can stand this no longer! scribbled Connie, and threw down her pen.
"Thank goodness, that's over!" she exclaimed, rising and coming over to the fire. "What a nuisance affectionate husbands are! Talking of husbands, Sylvia, I hear you are going to marry a plumber."
Lady Adela and Sylvia, taken in flank, both turned and eyed the frivolous interloper severely. Had they not done so, they would have noted that Miss Welwyn's teacup had almost leaped from its saucer.