Page:In The Cage (London, Duckworth, 1898).djvu/175

Rh that if you have grand clients, I have them too.'

'Yes,' said Mrs. Jordan; 'but the great difference is that you hate yours, whereas I really love mine. Do you know Lady Bradeen?' she pursued.

'Down to the ground! She's always in and out.'

Mrs. Jordan's foolish eyes confessed, in fixing themselves on this sketch, to a degree of wonder and even of envy. But she bore up and, with a certain gaiety, 'Do you hate her?' she demanded.

Her visitor's reply was prompt. 'Dear no!—not nearly so much as some of them. She's too outrageously beautiful.

Mrs. Jordan continued to gaze. 'Outrageously?'

'Well, yes; deliciously.' What was really delicious was Mrs. Jordan's vagueness. 'You don't know her—you've not seen her?' her guest lightly continued.

'No, but I've heard a great deal about her.'

'So have I!' our young lady exclaimed.

Mrs. Jordan looked an instant as if she