"Why don't you keep your husband in better order? He is incorrigible."
"I fear he is," was the answer, given with a gay smile.
"Very strange!" cried Mr. Lake. "I can't get an answer to my question: I think it's somebody else that's incorrigible. When--does--the--Begum--arrive? I hope that's plain enough."
"Mrs. Chester was talking of her yesterday to me," interposed Oliver Jupp. "The Begum is expected to make her entrance on Wednesday or Thursday."
"When the house shall have been cleared of us sinful people," added Mr. Lake. "We are not good enough for an Indian Begum. What do you know of this one?"
"As good as nothing," answered Margaret Jupp. "That is, of late years. Papa and mamma used to know old Mr. and Mrs. Finch. He was a lawyer somewhere in London, and Angeline was the daughter."
"Angeline!"
"That's her name. Isn't it a fine one?"
"Very," said Mr. Lake. "The baptismal people must have foreseen she was destined to be a Begum."
The arrival at Coombe Dalton interrupted the conversation. Slackening its speed, the train came to a standstill. They inquired of a porter how long it stayed, and understood him to say "ten" minutes. So they got out, and heard almost immediately the train puff on again. The man had said "two." Looking at each other in consternation, a laugh ensued. The next train came up at three o'clock, and they could only wait.