"Viz dat song I alvays knock zaim in ze Ole Ken' Road," he used to tell his friends.
At eleven o'clock there came a kind of subtle sense of something wanting, even beyond that exquisite music; and Lady Okehampton whispered to her niece that it was time the Princess went to supper, and that Claude must take her downstairs. Vera went in search of him. The crowd in the biggest drawing-room had thinned, and she was able to look for her husband—but without success; and she went through the other rooms to the spacious landing, in which direction most people were drifting, and there she met a perturbed spirit in the form of Susan Amphlett.
"What's the matter, Susie? Is there anything wrong?"
"Wrong!" cried Susie. "I call it simply disgusting. How could you be such a fool?"
"What have I done?"
"To ask that horrid woman, and with your Princess for the guest of the evening! She ain't prudish; but I fancy she'll think it a bit steep to find herself rubbing shoulders with Mrs. Bellenden."
"I have not invited Mrs. Bellenden."
"Someone else has, then. Or else she has come like the lady at Cannes, invitée ou non."
"Is Mrs. Bellenden here?"
"Yes, in the supper-room, in a mob of admirers. Claude took her down to supper."