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Still, if
Mrs. Smithers, who was a power in the social world, notwithstanding her
connection with trade, had taken her up, and Lady Oakley, too, perhaps
it would be better not to make a scene and show her animosity too much.
She could be barely civil to the woman and cut her visit short on one
pretext or another. Thus deciding, she said:
"Meeting you so suddenly has surprised me very much, Mrs. McPherson. I
hope your husband is well. I knew him when a boy. Perhaps he is in the
drawing-room. I think I will go down, as it is nearly dinnertime," and
bowing stiffly, she went down the stairs, every nerve quivering with
insulted dignity, and not quite certain whether she heard a smothered
laugh or not from the room, where Daisy was shaking with laughter at
what she termed the old cat's discomfiture.
"Nasty thing!" she said "how she hates me, and how little I care! I hope
I sha'n't let her spoil my fun. I have the inside track, and I mean to
keep it!"
Thus deciding, she, too, started for the drawing-room, where the guests
were assembling for dinner, and where Mrs.


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