plundered; there were mosaics of jade, and wonderful black marble,
and rare woods, and strange and perplexing carvings.

The head butler stood at the entrance to the salon, pronouncing
their names; and just inside was Mrs. Winnie.

Montague never forgot that first vision of her; she might have been
a real princess out of the palace in the Punjab. She was a brunette,
rich-coloured, full-throated and deep-bosomed, with scarlet lips,
and black hair and eyes. She wore a court-gown of cloth of silver,
with white kid shoes embroidered with jewelled flowers. All her life
she had been collecting large turquoises, and these she had made
into a tiara, and a neck ornament spreading over her chest, and a
stomacher. Each of these stones was mounted with diamonds, and set
upon a slender wire. So as she moved they quivered and shimmered,
and the effect was dazzling, barbaric.

She must have seen that Montague was staggered, for she gave him a
little extra pressure of the hand, and said, "I'm so glad you came.
Ollie has told me all about you." Her voice was soft and melting,
not so forbidding as her garb.

Montague ran the gauntlet of the other guests: Charlie Carter, a
beautiful, dark-haired boy, having the features of a Greek god, but
a sallow and unpleasant complexion; Major "Bob" Venable, a stout
little gentleman with a red face and a heavy jowl; Mrs. Frank
Landis, a merry-eyed young widow with pink cheeks and auburn hair;
Willie Davis, who had been a famous half-back, and was now junior
partner in the banking-house; and two young married couples, whose
names Montague missed.