“Try The Call of the Stage, dear,” Mrs Bedley suggested.
“You forget, Mrs Bedley,” Mrs Barleymoon replied, regarding solemnly her crêpe.
“Or Mary of the Manse, dear.”
“I’ve read Mary of the Manse twice, Mrs Bedley—and I don’t propose to read it again.”
“..........?”
“..........!”
Mrs Bedley became abstruse.
“It’s dreadful how many poets take to drink,” she reflected.
A sentiment to which her subscribers unanimously assented.
“I’m taking Men are Animals, by the Hon. Mrs Victor Smythe, and What Every Soldier Ought to Know, Mrs Bedley,” Miss Hopkins breathed.