"Thank you. I am doing a little honest work for the first time in my life."
He laughed. It was impossible to tell whether he was serious or posing.
"You are just what you were in one respect—terribly in the right! Be a little humble to-night for a change. Come, condescend to the classes! Do you see Mr. Lane calling us?"
And, in fact, Mr. Lane, with his arm in the air, was eagerly beckoning to them from the distance.
"Do you know Lady Selina Farrell?" he asked her, as they walked quickly back to the dispersing crowd.
"No; who is she?"
Wharton laughed.
"Providence should contrive to let Lady Selina overhear that question once a week—in your tone! Well, she is a personage—Lord Alresford's daughter—unmarried, rich, has a salon, or thinks she has—manipulates a great many people's fortunes and lives, or thinks she does, which, after all, is what matters—to Lady Selina. She wants to know you, badly. Do you think you can be kind to her? There she is—you will let me introduce you? She dines with us."
In another moment Marcella had been introduced to a tall, fair lady in a very fashionable black and pink bonnet, who held out a gracious hand.
"I have heard so much of you!" said Lady Selina, as they walked along the passage to the dining-room together. "It must be so wonderful, your nursing!"