those charming ballads, while I go and see if supper's ready?"

_The Companion_. "O, don't ask me--I feel nervous. There are so
many people."

_The Hostess_. "O, they won't listen, bless you! not one of them!
_Now_ DO!!!"

And here is a conversation that betrays the presence of one of the
currents of public feeling below the smooth surface of well-bred
twaddle:

_In the Metropolitan Railway_. "I beg your pardon, but I think I
had the pleasure of meeting you in Rome last year?"

"No, I've never been nearer to Rome than St. Alban's."

"St. Alban's? Where is that?"

"Holborn."

Some rather amusing speeches of a different character in which du
Maurier assails the more obvious forms of snobbery of a class below
those with whom his art was generally concerned may be given:

_Among the Philistines_. _Grigsby_. "Do you _know_ the Joneses,
Mrs. Brown?"

"No, we--er--don't care to know _Business_ people as a rule,
although my husband's in business; but then he's in the _Coffee_