"Oh, ma'am!"
"And we, who call ourselves the smart world, are the incurable patients. Give me something to read. Let me try to forget where I am and what I am."
She lay back trembling. Marriner handed to her the World. She opened it, and her eyes fell upon these words: "I really think that Mrs. Verulam is the smartest woman in town. Her mother, Lady Sophia Tree, is famous for her knowledge of the art of dress, but Mrs. Verulam surpasses even Lady Sophia in her understanding of what to wear and how to wear it. I met her driving in the Park on Friday in an exquisite creation of cinnamon canvas with touches of blue, that suited her dark-grey eyes and her exquisite golden-brown hair to——"
"Marriner, why do you give me this to read?"
"I thought you had not seen it, ma'am."
Mrs. Verulam threw the paper down.
"Leave me, Marriner," she said in a low voice.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Wait. Is Mrs. Van Adam's room quite ready for her?"
"Yes, ma'am."