“They have arrived?� gasped little Mrs. Lovelace-Legge.
Simmons bowed his head. His mistress could not speak. She took the card without looking at it, and turned away.
“Show them up here!� commanded Lady Cranberry, sympathetically comprehending Lotta’s emotion.
“And pay the cabman,� added the second-best friend.
Left together, the three women broke out into anticipatory ejaculations:
“The pet!�
“The wumpsy!�
“Will it be pretty?�
“Oh, I hope so! But even if it is not,� cried little Mrs. Lovelace-Legge, clasping her hands, “I feel that I shall love it. Ought we�—her eyebrows crumpled inquiringly—“ought we to give it a warm bath at once? Where is Nurse?�
Nurse and her understrapper appeared on the scene with the young lady from the Kindergarten. Six eager feminine heads were projected over the balusters of the top landing as masculine footsteps creaked upon the staircase, and a tall young man, dressed in a rough yachting suit of blue serge, raised his eyes—a handsome and ingenuous pair—and blushed under the salvo of optical artillery which greeted his appearance. Behind him followed a grizzled, middle-aged person, evidently a soldier-servant in mufti.