'Your firm, Mr. Jones?' exclaimed Stella in surprise.
'Yes! Surely James told you?' he replied.
'No, but it would have made no difference; I prefer to be where I am. I do not wish to be rude, Mr. Jones; but I think we had better not discuss the subject,' said Stella.
So Mr. Jones, finding he could do no good, changed the conversation, and talked so well on all sorts of topics that Stella, who had been excellently educated, and had been used to the society of a literary father, found her companion very entertaining.
Mrs. Montague Jones and Vava noted this with satisfaction. 'They are getting on very well,' said the former with a nod of her head.
'That's a blessing. Stella really is a very great trial to me,' announced Vava quite gravely.
Mrs. Montague Jones laughed heartily. 'I wonder what she would say if she heard you?' she replied.
'She would ask me quite solemnly what I meant, and I should not be able to tell her,' observed Vava.
'You ought to be proud to have such a beautiful sister; every one was asking me to-day who she was,' said Mrs. Jones.
'Beauty is a snare and a delusion for a City clerk, didn't they all say when you told them who she was?' asked Vava.