"Mr. Quinn is writing a novel, too!" said Lady Cecily.
"Oh, yes!" said Lensley.
"Indeed!" Boltt burbled.
Thereafter they addressed themselves exclusively to Lady Cecily and her husband. Lensley told Lady Cecily that she was to be the heroine of his next book. "I'm studying you now, dear Lady Cecily!" he said. "Jotting you down in my little book ... all your little plaguey ways and speeches!..."
"How awfully exciting!" she replied, and her eyes seemed to become brighter, and she leant towards the novelist as if she meant to reveal herself more clearly to him.
"You'll be angry with me when you see the book," he said. "Dreadfully angry. You know poor Mrs. Maldon was very hurt about 'Jennifer'!" Mrs. Maldon was the wife of the Cabinet Minister.
"I shan't mind what you say about me," Lady Cecily said, "so long as you make me the heroine of the book. What are you going to call it?..."
"The Delectable Lady!"
"How awfully nice!..."