Ladies’ dresses by Maison de Stunim. Hats by Madame Misfitte.
Miss Hareham’s costumes by Idem.
‘Kiddy Childe,’ I said, as I put it down, ‘surely that’s Squiff’s girl?’
‘Right O, right O,’ said Freddy, ‘he’s booked her for the whole week, and even now they’re cuddling in a private room at the Hyde.’
‘But,’ burst out the Pilot who was bubbling with suppressed excitement, ‘I wrote to her and she answered that, owing to a sad bereavement, she is not accepting any invitations. Now you say Squiff’s going to have her all the week; I believe the only thing she’s been bereft of—’ but here a burst of laughter prevented any further explanation; for the Pilot, as Freddy coarsely puts it, is going to be a devil-dodger; and even his explanation that a clergyman must see all sides of life would hardly cover an occasion like this.
‘I’ve invited Ina and the “Three Little Wives” to tea to-morrow,’ Freddy continued when the laughter had subsided, ‘you see that makes a girl for each of us.’
Here Reggie expressed his approval by a loud tattoo on a tobacco tin, but broke off very suddenly on Freddy declaring:
‘It must be in your digs, because Squiff’s got lunch for sixteen and our landlady says she can’t undertake tea after it.’
‘That’s very good of you,’ said the Pilot solemnly.
‘O don’t mention it,’ said Freddy, ‘we shan’t want your rooms again till Saturday, lunch is in Accrington’s on Wednesday and at ours on Friday.’