“Will you have a cigarette, Mrs. Hargreaves?” said Herbert.
But Mr. Hargreaves interposed:
“Oh, I don’t allow my wife to smoke. It’s a beastly habit.”
Mr. Atkinson Brown, who had accepted one of Herbert’s cigars, but after some inquiry had also decided to smoke one of his own, applauded this sentiment with enthusiasm.
“Hear, hear! Hear, hear! Disgusting habit for women.”
“Of course I agree with you,” said Herbert. “Clare never smokes. But I don’t lay down the law for other people’s wives.”
Mr. Hargreaves laughed.
“A very sound notion, Heywood. It takes all one’s time to manage one’s own, eh?”
“And then it is not always effective,” said his wife. “Even the worm will turn.”
Mr. Hargreaves answered his wife with a heavy retort: