"Well, I think the whole business is fishy. There's something horrid about a household, in any case, which brazenly maintains that kind of Burmese child; and John is probably the co-respondent's son of the divorce case. The co-respondent can't be Sterne or, surely, he'd have married her. Probably the real man bunked after marrying her, and Sterne, aware that his own past would not bear too close a scrutiny, took pity on her and..."
"Aren't we getting on a little fast, Dolly? It makes a good story, I'll admit, but we couldn't hold to it in the face of a summons for libel, and you know you want to send the boys to Winchester."
In the bar one heard a good bit of low chuckling.
"And Diogenes wearing the air of a Trappist monk through the whole joke!"
"All the same, when it comes to bringing a woman of that stamp into a respectable God-fearing district, and introducing her to its wives and daughters under false pretences, it's a bit thick."
"Of course he'll have to go."
"Good God, yes! He'll have to go."
"And I shouldn't be sorry to kick out Digby Maur along with him."
"Oh, Maur! His doings cut no ice. But, somehow, we have looked upon Sterne as a creature with principles, and I, for one, am sorry for this smash-up."
"Personally, I was dashed keen on the little lady."