Page:The Relentless City.djvu/234

224 Lord Bolton had in the previous year firmly declined the honour of Mrs. Palmer's acquaintance, saying he did not wish to be deaf for the remainder of a misspent life; and Amelie introduced her to him.

she said;

Gallio shook hands.

he said with his best paternal air. And his eye wandered over the great gray façade of the house.

said Mrs. Palmer; she called to her husband,

Gallio's thin lips tightened a little.

he said.

said Mrs. Palmer, as she moved to Amelie's side at the tea-table, and went on in a loud aside, as Gallio engaged Mr. Palmer in conversation. she said,

Mrs. Palmer flowed on in a shrill and equable torrent of conversation. Her particular timbre of voice made talking in her vicinity as difficult as talking in a railway-tunnel, for