BLISSOP had warned me against him. Wrote back that, in view of the
Corrupt Practices Act, it was impossible for me to relieve individual
cases.

Called on the PENFOLDS this afternoon. They are up from Billsbury
for their stay in London, and have got a house in Eaton Square. To
my surprise found Mrs. BELLAMY and MARY there. That was awkward,
especially as MARY looked at me, as I thought, very meaningly, and
asked me if I didn't think SOPHY PENFOLD sweetly pretty. I muttered
something about preferring a darker type of beauty (MARY's hair is as
black as my hat), to which MARY replied that perhaps, after all, that
kind of pink and white beauty with hair like tow _was_ rather insipid.
The BELLAMYS it seems met the PENFOLDS at a dinner last week, and
the girls struck up a friendship, this call being the result. Young
PENFOLD, whom I had never seen before, was there and was infernally
attentive to MARY. He's in the 24th Lancers, and looks like a barber's
block. Mrs. BELLAMY said to me, "I've been hearing so much about you
from dear Lady PENFOLD. They all have the highest opinion of you. In
fact, Lady PENFOLD said she felt quite like a mother to you. And how
kind of you to buy so many things from Miss PENFOLD at the Bazaar.
What are my father's noble lines?

"True kindness is no blustering rogue that struts
With empty mouthings on the stage of life,
But, like a tender, timid plant that shuts
At every touch, it shrinks from noisy strife."

(And so forth, I've forgotten the rest.) "I love kindness," continued
Mrs. BELLAMY, "in young men. By the way, will you excuse a short
invitation, and dine with us the day after to-morrow? All the PENFOLDS