“What?” cried Jack. “When I’m here as well?”
“Whether you’re here or not. You’re not very nice to me to-night, and William James never is. But Mr Somers is awfully nice.” She blushed suddenly quite vividly, looking under her long lashes at him. He smiled a little more intensely to himself.
“I tell you what, Mrs Somers,” said Jack. “We’d better make a swap of it, till they alter their opinion. You and me had better strike up a match, and let them two elope with one another for a bit.”
“And what about William James?” cried Victoria, with hurried, vivid excitement.
“Oh nobody need trouble themselves about William James,” replied that individual. “It’s about time he was rolling home.”
“No,” said Harriet, in answer to Jack. “I’m striking off no more matches, thank you. The game’s not worth
