"Charming!" she said. "But what does it matter? Does anybody whose opinion I value form that opinion upon the Hauberk?"
"If you will start doing what nobody has done before,—"
"Well, somebody must start," said Melicent composedly, "or nobody would ever get anywhere. After all, these things matter so little. People very soon forget; and one is not nearly so important as one believes."
"Your common-sense and self-possession are getting quite odious, miss," said Brenda languidly.
Melicent was thoughtful.
"Very likely it is true what they say—that a business woman has got to sacrifice something. But I always was practical, you know."
"So little do we know ourselves," gasped Helston.
"Why? Am I not practical?"
"Dreamer, idealist, dweller in Utopia, believer in the Fourth dimension and in the sum of the really important things that nobody can classify—go to!" said he gravely. "Tell that to the reporters, but not to the unfortunate pater who had to hold you in when designing a house! 'Bridling the Tweed with a curb o' stane' would have just been an interval for light refreshment."
Melicent, her arms about her knees, laughed blithely.