the lawn before the eyes of her astonished retainers.

. . . . . . . . .

Lost dignity is not a possession which can be restored at a
moment's notice, and both Lady Bastable and the butler found the
process of returning to normal conditions almost as painful as a
slow recovery from drowning. A jacquerie, even if carried out
with the most respectful of intentions, cannot fail to leave some
traces of embarrassment behind it. By lunch-time, however,
decorum had reasserted itself with enhanced rigour as a natural
rebound from its recent overthrow, and the meal was served in a
frigid stateliness that might have been framed on a Byzantine
model. Halfway through its duration Mrs. Sangrail was solemnly
presented with an envelope lying on a silver salver. It contained
a cheque for forty-nine shillings.

The MacGregor boys learned how to play poker-patience; after all,
they could afford to.




THE BACKGROUND



"That woman's art-jargon tires me," said Clovis to his journalist
friend. "She's so fond of talking of certain pictures as 'growing
on one,' as though they were a sort of fungus."