"They can't be exactly dull in that family," she said. "I'm told they all
talk at once; and none of them listens to a word the others say."

"I think I'll bet that Lady Coryston will make Lord Coryston listen to a
few remarks on that speech!" laughed Enid Glenwilliam. "Is there such a
thing as _matria potestas_? I've forgotten all the Latin I learned
at Cambridge, so I don't know. But if there is, that's what Lady Coryston
stands for. How splendid--to stand for anything--nowadays!"

The three fell into an animated discussion of the Coryston family and their
characteristics. Enid Glenwilliam canvassed them all at least as freely as
her neighbors. But every now and then little Mrs. Frant threw her an odd
look, as much as to say, "Am I really taken in?"

* * * * *

Meanwhile a very substantial old lady, scarcely less deliberate and finely
finished, in spite of her size, than Lady Coryston herself, had taken a
chair beside her in the gallery, which was still very empty.

"My dear," she said, panting a little and grasping Lady Coryston's wrist,
with a plump hand on which the rings sparkled--"My dear! I came to bring
you a word of sympathy."

Lady Coryston looked at her coldly.

"Are you speaking of Coryston?"

"Naturally. The only logical result of those proceedings last night would
be, of course, the guillotine at Hyde Park Corner. Coryston wants our