II. FROM THE HIGHWAYS AND HEDGES


The first step towards Merton's scheme was taken at once. The lady
patronesses were approached. The divine Althaea instantly came in. She
had enjoyed few things more since the Duchess of Richmond's ball on the
eve of Waterloo. Miss Nicky Maxwell at first professed a desire to open
her coffers, 'only anticipating,' she said, 'an event'--which Logan
declined in any sense to anticipate. Lady Lochmaben said that they would
have a lovely time as experimental students of society. Mrs. Brown-Smith
instantly offered her own services as a Disentangler, her lord being then
absent in America studying the negro market for detergents.

'I think,' she said, 'he expects Brown-Smith's brand to make an Ethiopian
change his skin, and then means to exhibit him as an advertisement.'

'And settle the negro question by making them all white men,' said Logan,
as he gracefully declined the generous but compromising proposal of the
lady. 'Yet, after all,' thought he, 'is she not right? The prophylactic
precautions would certainly be increased, morally speaking, if the
Disentanglers were married.' But while he pigeon-holed this idea for
future reference, at the moment he could not see his way to accepting
Mrs. Brown-Smith's spirited idea. She reluctantly acquiesced in his view
of the case, but, like the other dames, promised to guarantee, if applied
to, the absolute respectability of the enterprise. The usual vows of
secrecy were made, and (what borders on the supernatural) they were kept.