"I think it is," said Mrs. Stimpson; "but I feel myself responsible for you, to some extent. So I"ll write you a cheque for the thirty pounds, and you can send it off to this milliner person at once." She went to the writing-table and filled up the cheque. "There," she said, handing it to Daphne, "put it in an envelope and direct it at once--you"ll find a stamp in that box, and it can go by the next post."

"By the way, my dear," she added, as she was leaving the room, "I needn"t tell you that _I_ shall not breathe a word to a soul of our little transaction, and I should advise you, in your own interests, to keep it entirely to yourself."

"I was quite wrong about Mrs. Stimpson," Daphne told herself reproachfully, after she had slipped the letter containing bill and cheque into the letter-box in the hall. "She _can_ be kind sometimes, and I"ve been a little beast to see only the comic side of her! I daresay she won"t even _wear_ that pendant."

But Mrs. Stimpson had every intention of wearing it that same evening.

It is not often that one has the opportunity of doing a kindness and securing a real bargain at a single stroke; and she knew enough about jewels to be fully aware that, if the ornament was a trifle old-fashioned, she had not done at all badly over her purchase.

"It really suits me very well," she thought, as, after putting the last touches to her evening demi-toilette, she fastened the pendant round her neck. "Even better than I expected. It was lucky Miss Heritage came to _me_. A jeweller would have been sure to cheat her, poor child!"

And she went down to the drawing-room feeling serenely satisfied with herself.

CHAPTER II

RUSHING TO CONCLUSIONS

Mrs. Wibberley-Stimpson, as she sat in the drawing-room, where the curtains had been drawn and the lamps lighted, was occupied with a project which she was anxious to impart to her husband as soon as he returned. Some time before a dull rumble from the valley had informed her that his usual train was approaching Gablehurst station, and now she heard the click of the front gate, the crunch of his well-known step on the gravel, and the opening of the hall door.

"I want to speak to you for a moment, Sidney," she said, opening the drawing-room door. "Come in here before you go up to dress." (Mrs.

Stimpson insisted on his dressing for dinner. It was customary in all really good society, and also it would prevent him from feeling awkward in evening clothes--which it never did.)

"Very well, my dear," he said, entering. "Any news with you?" which was his invariable question.

Mr. Stimpson was short and inclined to be stout. What remained of his hair was auburn and separated in the middle by a wide parting; he had close-cut whiskers of a lighter red, which met in his moustache, and if his eyes had been narrow, instead of round and filmy like a seal"s, and his mouth had been firm, and not loose and slightly open, he would not have been at all a bad caricature of his Majesty King Henry the Eighth.

"Nothing--except, but I"ll tell you about that afterwards. Sit down, do, and don"t fidget.... Well, I"ve been thinking, Sidney, that we really ought to ask the Chevril Thistletons to a quiet little dinner. Not to meet any of our _usual_ set, of course! We could have the dear Rector, who, if he _is_ Low Church, is very well connected--and Lady Harriet Elmslie."

Mr. Stimpson showed no enthusiasm at the suggestion. "Lady Elmslie, Selina!" he cried. "But we don"t _know_ her ladyship!"

"I do wish you would learn to use t.i.tles correctly, Sidney! Lady _Harriet_ Elmslie--not Lady _Elmslie_! And you shouldn"t speak of her, except to servants, as "her ladyship"; that"s only done by inferiors."

"Well, my love, whatever may be the correct way of speaking of her, the fact remains that we haven"t the honour of her acquaintance."

"That"s just where you"re mistaken! We _have_, or at least _I_ have;"

and she described how she had come to enjoy that privilege.

"Well," he admitted at the conclusion, "she certainly seems to have made herself exceedingly affable, but it doesn"t follow that she"d come and dine, even if we asked her."

"She would if it was to meet the Thistletons."

"Perhaps so, my love, but--er--we don"t know that _they_ would come."

"Of course they would, if they knew we were expecting Lady Harriet. For goodness" sake, Sidney, don"t swing your foot like that--you know I can"t bear it. All _you_ have to do is to find out from Mr. Thistleton what evenings the week after next would be most convenient, and _I"ll_ undertake the rest!"

"I--I really couldn"t do that, Selina. I"m a proud man, in my way, and I don"t care about exposing myself unnecessarily to a rebuff."

"Why should you be rebuffed? After all, he"s only a junior partner!"

"True, my love, but that doesn"t make him less stand-offish. He may be _in_ the business, but he"s not _of_ it. I doubt myself whether even old Cramphorn would venture to invite him to dinner, and if he did, I"d bet a tidy sum that the Honourable Mr. Chevril Thistleton----"

"Mr.--_not_ the Honourable _Mr._ Thistleton, Sidney," corrected his wife, who had studied all such _minutiae_ in a handbook written by a lady of unimpeachable authority. "The term is _never_ employed in ordinary conversation, or on visiting cards. But, if you won"t show a proper spirit, I shall write myself to Mrs. Thistleton and propose one or two dates."

"It would be no good, my love," said Mr. Stimpson, brought to bay, "because, if you _must_ know, I--er--_did_ approach the subject with Thistleton--and--well, his manner was not sufficiently encouraging to induce me to try it again. Not so fond of being made to feel as if I was no better than one of our own clerks. I get quite enough of _that_ from old Cramphorn!"

"You should _a.s.sert_ yourself more, Sidney, if you want people to respect you."

"I"m always a.s.serting myself--but old Cramphorn never listens! Just goes on his own way. Won"t hear of any changes--what was good enough when the firm started a hundred years ago is good enough for _him_--now I"m all for _new_ ideas myself--Progress and so forth!"

"That"s what has kept us back," said Mrs. Wibberley-Stimpson; "we should have been in a far better set here than we"re ever likely to be now if you hadn"t given yourself out as a violent Radical, when it"s well known that all best Gablehurst people are Conservatives, and several who are not really ent.i.tled to be anything of the kind. As it is, I suppose I must be content to pa.s.s my life in this suburban hole and mix with none but second-rate people. But I certainly cannot expect Lady Harriet to come here and meet them, so there"s an end of it. If she imagines I"ve no desire to pursue her acquaintance, it can"t be helped, that"s all!

And now you had better go up and dress."

The whole family were a.s.sembled by the time Mr. Stimpson re-appeared--his wife was in her armchair by the standard lamp. Edna was at the writing-table revising her notes of the afternoon"s lecture, and Clarence was seated close by, while Ruby was whispering earnestly to Daphne on one of the chintz couches.

"All of you down before me, eh?" said the head of the family after the usual salutations had been exchanged. "But I went up long after everybody else. And not late after all--I"ve taught myself to dress in well under ten minutes, you see!"

"Wish he"d taught himself not to wear a white tie with a dinner jacket!"

grumbled Clarence to Edna in an undertone.

"Couldn"t you _tell_ him about it?" she replied.

"I could--but what"d be the good? He"d only turn up next time in a tail-coat and a black bow!" said Clarence gloomily. "The poor old governor"s one of the people who never learn----!"

Clarence"s own type was that for which the latest term is "knut." He was accepted both by his family, his intimates, and himself as an infallible guide on things in general. When consulted as to matters on which he happened to be entirely ignorant, and these were not a few--he had formed the habit of preserving a pregnant silence, as of one who could say a good deal on the subject if he were at liberty to speak. And this in itself denoted a certain degree of intelligence.

In appearance he was well built, though only of average height. He had small green eyes like his mother"s; his light sandy hair had a natural ripple, and his pale face expressed nothing beyond an a.s.sured consciousness of his own superiority. And yet he was not without a certain sense of humour in matters which did not immediately concern himself, though, owing to particular circ.u.mstances, it was just then distinctly in abeyance.

"What time do you get back from the City to-morrow afternoon, my boy?"

his father asked.

"Not going up at all, Pater," said Clarence. "Told them I shouldn"t." He was thinking that after dinner would be quite time enough to break the news that, on receiving a severe wigging for general slackness, he had lost his temper, and offered to resign his post--an offer that had been accepted with disconcerting alacrity.

"Ah, Sidney," said Mrs. Wibberley-Stimpson, "_Clarence_ knows how to a.s.sert himself, you see!"

"I merely asked," Mr. Stimpson explained, "because I"m taking a Sat.u.r.day off myself, and I thought we could have a round or two of golf together, eh, my boy?"

"I don"t mind going round with you before lunch," said Clarence.

"Engaged for the afternoon; but, if you"ll take _my_ advice, Governor, you"d better practise a bit longer with the Pro before you attempt to _play_. No good trying to run till you can walk, don"t you know, what?"

(He had learnt to terminate his sentences with "what" as a kind of smart shibboleth.) "Hullo, Mater!" he broke off suddenly, as he noticed the pendant on her ample bosom, "where did you get that thing? Out of a cracker?"

"Certainly not, Clarence; I am not in the habit of wearing cheap jewellery. And this cost a considerable sum, though I daresay it is worth what I paid for it."

"Did you go much of a mucker for it, Mater?"

"If I did, Clarence, I was well able to do so, thanks to dear old Uncle Wibberley"s legacy."