to reply to his _fiancée_.

"Be at peace," he said, addressing Lady Claudia; "your brother is not
coming. I have known Rickmansworth a long while, and I never knew him to
be polite. He inquired by telegram (reply not paid) who were to be here.
When I wired him, telling him whom I had the privilege of entertaining,
and requesting an immediate reply (not paid), he answered that he
thought I must have enough Territons already, and he didn't want to make
another."

Neither Lady Claudia nor her brother Robert, who was the young man with
the beer, seemed put out at this message. Indeed, the latter went so far
as to say:

"Good! Have some beer, Eugene?"

"But who is coming?" repeated Miss Kate. "Really, Eugene, you might pay
a little attention to me."

"Can't, my dear Kate--not in public. It's not good form, is it, Lady
Claudia?"

"Eugene," said Mrs. Lane, in a tone as nearly severe as she ever arrived
at, "if you wish your guests to have either dinner or beds, you will at
once tell me who and how many they are."

"My dear mother, they are in number five, composed as follows: First,
the Bishop of Bellminster."

"A most interesting man," observed Miss Chambers.