"Oh no, never a word, have we, Johnson dear?"
"Never. He's not half a bad fellow, Majendie."
Dr. Gardner rose to go.
"Oh, please—don't go before they come."
Mrs. Gardner hesitated, but the doctor, vague in his approaches, displayed a certain energy in his departure.
They passed Mrs. Walter Majendie on the stairs.
She had come alone. That, Mrs. Eliott felt, was a bad beginning. She could see that it struck even Johnson's obtuseness as unfavourable, for he presently effaced himself.
"Fanny," said Anne, holding her friend's evasive eye with the determination of her query, "tell me, who are the Ransomes?"
"The Ransomes? Have they called?"
"Yes, but I was out. I didn't see them."