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 A silence as Mrs. Durham ceased reading.

"You don't approve?" she asked, with raised eyebrows.

"No," said Victoria, "I don't! The whole thing is horridly personal."

"But I've changed all the names," pleaded the authoress. "I read them to you with the real ones just for a lark."

"As if everybody couldn't place the thing!"

"But I've made you very nice, Victoria."

"And how have you treated me?" demanded Sonia.

"Excellently,—I've only been truthful."

"Thank goodness for that," Victoria groaned. "You have saved us and punished yourself. Your reputation as a realist will be ruined, and we shall escape. I breathe again—and so would Philippa, if she knew. Her beautiful coat of immaculate whitewash will remain 'unspotted'—by the world."

"I disapprove of slang and puns, but in this instance we'll let it pass," said Mrs. Durham.

THE END. 319