“Perhaps she does not mind,” Bertram suggested.
“But, of course, everyone minds their home being knocked about. I should mind very much. I think it is very ungracious of people to come here and accept my aunt’s hospitality and then behave like that. I don’t believe it would happen in England.”
“It does though,” he answered. “Don’t you remember, Vane, that party at the Cavendish one night? Rosa was furious next morning and put about twenty pounds on to everybody’s bill.”
“Who is Rosa?” Gardenia asked.
“Rosa Lewis, a great character,” Bertie replied. “She keeps a hotel in Jermyn Street.”
“But one can hardly compare her with Aunt Lily,” Gardenia said. “Smashing up a hotel is rather different from doing the same thing in a private house.”
There was a moment’s silence.
Then Bertie gave a
