"And why not you?" asked Lady Elphinspoon.
"You forget, my dear," said the baronet, "as Foreign Secretary my presence at a Dog Show might be offensive to the Shah of Persia. Had it been a Cat Show——"
The baronet paused and shook his head in deep gloom.
"John," said his wife, "I feel that there is something more. Did anything happen at the House?"
Sir John nodded.
"A bad business," he said. "The Wazuchistan Boundary Bill was read this afternoon for the third time."
No woman in England, so it was generally said, had a keener political insight than Lady Elphinspoon.
"The third time," she repeated thoughtfully, "and how many more will it have to go?"
Sir John turned his head aside and groaned.
"You are faint," exclaimed Lady Elphinspoon, "let me ring for tea."