Page:Despotism and democracy; a study in Washington society and politics (IA despotismdemocra00seawiala).pdf/203

 Never saw such a thing anywhere in my life before. Fancy giving a dinner in London to foreign diplomats and not having an Englishman there—haw! haw!"

Both Eleanor and Mrs. Hill-Smith turned pale. Constance Maitland laughed outright; the Ambassador and Sir Mark le Poer looked gravely into each other's eyes, and telegraphed, without winking, their amusement. Castlestuart-Stuart kept on.

"And Hachette, the new French third secretary, told us in the dressing-room about a letter he had got from his mother in Paris—terribly strict old lady. She said, 'You have written me about going to dinners where no American men are present. You are deceiving your old mother. It is impossible that persons such as you describe us giving those dinners should not know any respectable American men. At all events, do not bring me back a daughter-in-law who has no acquaintance among respectable men in her own country'—haw! haw! haw!"

A flood of colour poured into the faces of Eleanor Baldwin and Mrs. Hill-Smith. The Ambassador's