The set was not a success.—p. 399.
"Oh, have you been out in Africa?" returned May, thinking it best to ignore his flattering reference to his entertainers.
"Spent nearly twenty years there. I can remember when there wasn't a gold mine on the Randt. And, though I've come back to England for good now, I generally run over about twice a year. It's just a nice little trip to the Cape, and they really do you very well on the mail steamers," he condescendingly added, as he lighted another cigarette. "By-the-bye, this case is made of African gold—a nugget I found myself in the claim which was the beginning of the Springkloof Mine. You've heard of the Springkloof, of course?"
She shook her head, and he looked at her with evident pity for her ignorance. "I didn't think there was anybody nowadays who hadn't heard of the Springkloof!"
"I'm afraid you'll think us rather behind the times at Beachbourne," she said, as she rose, hoping to shake off her new acquaintance; but he rose, too, and kept by her side as she strolled through the beautiful grounds, speaking first to one friend and then to another.
"Not many pretty girls here, I must say," he observed disparagingly, as they approached the house, in quest of the tea-room.
"Are you an admirer of beauty?" asked May, with a rather sarcastic glance at his tubby figure.
"Quite so. I love the best of everything there is. As soon as I can find a girl pretty enough, I intend to marry," he replied with perfect gravity. "It's rather lonely all by myself in Palace Gardens. Do you like the Palace Gardens houses, Mrs. Burnside?"
"I've never been in one, and I don't even know where they are. I know very little about London, and very few people there—just the Wingates, and one or two others."