"Oh! well, that is different," said the Princess. "I think that explanation is satisfactory—but otherwise——" And she filled up the sentence with a telling glance, to which Moricourt replied with a look of fervent admiration.
"Well, how long does it take, then?" said Lady Chaloner, with a smile of strange indulgence, Mrs. Birkett thought, for a lady so highly placed, and of such solid dignity.
"Oh! about half an hour," said Moricourt; "perhaps three-quarters."
"Is that all?" said Lady Chaloner, in some consternation. "The Café Chantant goes on for how long did you say, Mrs. Birkett?"
This piece of statistics Mrs. Birkett was able to furnish.
"From six till ten, I think you said, Lady Chaloner," she said, reading from her list.
"Heavens!" said the Princess, "you don't expect us, I hope, to go on from six till ten. We had better do the Nibelungen Ring at once. I will be Brünnhilde—and I tell you what," turning to Moricourt, "you shall be the big lizard who comes in and says 'bow-wow,' or whatever it is. Mr. Wentworth!" and she called to Wentworth who was strolling along with an air of being at peace with himself and the universe. "What is it that lizards do?"
"If they are small," said Wentworth, "they run up a wall in the sun, or they run over your feet, and if they are big——"
"You fall over their feet, I suppose," said the Princess.
"But a lizard at a Café Chantant," said Moricourt, "what does he do?"