Caller. “Only fancy, Mrs. Dowderley, I was very nearly calling on your neighbour, Lady Masham, whose day at home it is too! when I suddenly remembered I wasn’t dressed for paying calls!”
XVIII
Hostess. “What, leaving already, Mr. Mivers! I’ve scarcely seen anything of you the whole evening!”
Mr. Mivers (who goes in for the Courteous Manners of the Olden Time). “That, madam, is entirely my fault!”
[Exit gracefully, but remembers as he goes downstairs that he meant to say “misfortune,” not “fault.”
THINGS ONE MIGHT HAVE EXPRESSED OTHERWISE
I
Visitor (who has accepted an invitation to a local concert). “Is it evening dress?”