Mrs. Hunter, one of those happy beings who cannot see a young man and a young woman in the same room without at once scenting romance, said she must not be a spoilsport and would get back to her ain fireside. As she took her leave she issued a cordial invitation to everyone present to attend the drawing-room meeting for Slavo-Lydia. Mrs. Belton and Mrs. Hoare were profuse in untruthful protestations of how much they would like to and how terribly afraid they were they couldn’t. The Rear-Admiral’s wife, who had not lived at Admiralty House pretty well all over the world for nothing, said she could not go, but would send a guinea to the Merchant Navy instead, leaving Mrs. Belton gasping with admiration and hoping to be strong-minded enough to do the same herself next time she was similarly a
