"He will be here—later, I believe," Olga answered. "Meanwhile, monsieur, I am going to ask you to make yourself agreeable to some of my guests."
"Madam, I can only make myself disagreeable to them," he replied cynically. "It is not they whom I came to see and entertain."
"But you must be entertained now," Olga said. "Soon I hope we may talk."
"We shall talk," Millar assured her, bowing.
He passed on to greet Herman, and was presented to others in the rapidly growing throng. Wherever he went Olga heard exclamations usually of surprise or dismay from her women guests, and the number that invariably gathered around him at first rapidly diminished. He seemed bent on making himself disagreeable, as he had promised.
One elderly spinster to whom he was presented greeted him with an affected lisp, drooping eyes and an inane remark about the terrible cold.
"Yes, mademoiselle, your teeth will chatter to-night—on the dresser."
To another—a portly lady who affected the airs of a girl—he said in his most silken tones:
"My dear madam, I must tell you of a splendid remedy for getting thin."
"I don't want to get thin," the portly one replied indignantly as she flounced away from him.