"And then what about the others? If the Cardews are going to be nice we
don't want to leave Dahlia and all of them out of it."

I thought it over carefully for a little.

"What you want to do," I said at last, "is to write a really long letter
to Mrs. Cardew, acquainting her with all the facts. Keep nothing back
from her. I should begin by dwelling on the personnel of our little
company. 'My husband and I,' you should say, 'are not alone. We have also
with us Mr. and Mrs. Archibald Mannering, a delightful couple. Mr. A.
Mannering is something in the Territorials when he is not looking after
his estate. His wife is a great favourite in the county. Next I have to
introduce to you Mr. Thomas Todd, an agreeable young bachelor. Mr. Thomas
Todd is in the Sucking-a-ruler-and-looking-out-of-the-window Department
of the Admiralty, by whose exertions, so long as we preserve the 2 Todds
to 1 formula--or, excluding Canadian Todds, 16 to 10--Britannia rules the
waves. Lastly, there is Mr. Samuel Simpson. Short of sight but warm of
heart, and with (on a bad pitch) a nasty break from the off, Mr. S.
Simpson is a _littérateur_ of some eminence but little circulation,
combining on the cornet intense wind-power with no execution, and on the
golf course an endless enthusiasm with only an occasional contact. This,
dear Mrs. Cardew, is our little party. I say nothing of my husband.'"

"Go on," smiled Myra. "You have still to explain how we invite ourselves
to lunch."

"We don't; we leave that to her. All we do is to give a list of the meals
in which, in the ordinary course, we are wont to indulge, together with a
few notes on our relative capacities at each. 'Perhaps,' you wind up, 'it
is at luncheon time that as a party we show to the best advantage. Some