"I do—sometimes. That's one reason why I want to get this thing made in my lifetime, before I go away."
"Good gracious. You're not going away to die."
"I don't know what I'm going away to do. Anyhow, the catalogue will be done. All ready for Horace when he steps into my shoes."
"Unless—happy thought—you marry him. That, I suppose, is another pair of shoes?"
There was a pause, during which Miss Palliser gazed thoughtfully at her friend.
"What have you been doing to yourself? You look most awfully tired."
"I've been sitting up rather late the last few nights, cataloguing."
"What on earth did you do that for?"
"Because I want to finish by the twenty-seventh."
There was a pause while Miss Palliser ate tea-cake.