It is said--"

"Then, good heavens, they'll know I'm not Medcroft," he whispered in
alarm.

"Not at all, my dear Roxbury. That's just where you're wrong. They don't
know Roxbury the first. I've gone over it all with Edith. She's just
crazy to get into the Odell-Carney set. I regret to say that they have
failed to notice the Medcrofts up to this time. Secretly, Edith has
ambitions. She has gone to the Lord Mayor's dinners and to the Royal
Antiquarians and to Sir John Rodney's and a lot of other functions on
the outer rim, but she's never been able to break through the crust and
taste the real sweets of London society. My dear Roxbury, the
Odell-Carneys entertain the nobility without compunction, and they've
been known to hobnob with royalty. Mrs. Odell-Carney was a Lady
Somebody-or-other before she married the second time. She's terribly
smart, Roxbury."

"How, in the name of heaven, do they happen to be hobnobbing, as you
call it, with the Rodneys, may I ask?"

"Well, it seems that Odell-Carney is promoting a new South African
mining venture. I have it from Freddie Ulstervelt that he's trying to
sell something like a million shares to Mr. Rodney, who has loads of
money that came from real mines in the Far West. He'd never be such a
fool as to sink a million in South Africa, you know, but he's just
clever enough to see the advantage of keeping Odell-Carney in tow, as it
were. It means a great deal to Mrs. Rodney, don't you know, Roxbury, to
be able to say that she toured with the Odell-Carneys. Freddie says
that Cousin Alfred is talking in a very diplomatic manner of going on to