shall take weeks getting to the point.'

'Don't be absurd. I'll get to the point at once then. Look here; I think
we ought to give a dinner for Madame Frabelle!'

'Oh, is that all? Of course! I've been wondering that you didn't wish to
do it long before now.'

'Have you? I'll tell you why. Thinking Madame Frabelle was a pal, er--a
friend--of the Conroys, it stood to reason, don't you see, that she knew
everyone in London; or could, if she liked--everyone worth knowing, I
mean. Under these circumstances there was no point in--well--in showing
off our friends to her. But I found out, only last night'--he lowered
his voice--'what do you think? She isn't an intimate friend of Lady
Conroy's at all! She only made her acquaintance in the drawing-room of
the Royal Hotel two days before she came to London!'

Edith laughed.

'How delightful! Then why on earth did Lady Conroy send her to us with a
letter of introduction? Why just us?'

'Because she likes you. Besides, it's just like her, isn't it? And she
never said she had known her all her life. We jumped to that conclusion.
It was our own idea.'

'And how did you find it out?'

'Why, when you went up to the children and left me alone with Madame
Frabelle yesterday evening, she told me herself; perfectly frankly, in