"Mrs. Milbanke is a feminine Sir Galahad!" said Luard. "By the way, Lady Frances, when is our irreproachable knight to honour Venice with his presence?"
He turned and looked banteringly at his hostess.
Lady Frances smiled.
"Oh, any day now," she returned. "But aren't you rather incorrigible?"
"So Sir Galahad thinks!" he retorted, unabashed. "Is he an acquaintance of yours, Mrs. Milbanke?"
Clodagh smiled uncertainly; and Lady Frances laughed.
"How ridiculous of you to expect Mrs. Milbanke to read your riddles!" she said sharply. "The person this very disrespectful young man is speaking of, Mrs. Milbanke, is Sir Walter Gore——"
"The most admirable Sir Walter Gore!" interjected Luard.
Lady Frances' sallow face flushed very slightly.
"—Sir Walter Gore," she went on, ignoring the interruption, "who is only twenty-nine—has been ten times round the world—and is imbued with the deepest contempt for all modern social things."