"No, no; I didn't go for Mulligatawney."
"Well, then, I'm—I don't see how you had a good day," said Miss Bindler, giving him up and turning again to the Duke.
"Do you like Ascot, Mr. Van Adam?" said the Lady Pearl, with unusual vivacity.
"It's heavenly," cried Chloe; "it's like a dream."
"Have you nothing of the kind in America?"
"How can we, when we have no aristocracy? Oh, I should like to make it my life's mission to create a grand American aristocracy, with grades, a Debrett, and everything complete. I would travel, I would hold meetings, I would stir up the splendid class feeling that makes England what it is, I would leave no stone unturned, I would begin by getting baronets for my dear native land—they should be the thin end of the wedge, and everything else would follow."
Her cheeks flushed with enthusiasm, and her eyes sparkled as she unbuttoned her frock-coat, and flung it open with the gesture of a born orator. The Lady Pearl caught the infection of the missionary spirit.
"Mr. Van Adam," she said, "you should have lived in the olden days. You should have led Crusaders."
"To Burke instead of battle, an army to armorial bearings. Oh!"
She drank her tea in a soft frenzy, which went straight to the heart of the Lady Pearl.