CHAPTER VII
Mrs. Palmer's house-party, which was to be with her during the week of the ' Revels,' as they were called, had arrived at Mon Repos the same afternoon. Mon Repos had been taking its rest in its usual relentless manner, and Bertie Keynes and Mrs. Massington were beginning to get into training. It had dawned on them both very soon that they were engaged in the exercise of the most strenuous mental and physical activity that their dawdling English lives had ever known. The whole party breakfasted together in a marquee on the lawn, and from that moment till after the ensuing midnight were engaged ohne rast with a prodigious quantity of hast in a continuous social effort. Bathing, boating, bridge (the two latter simultaneously) lasted till lunch; these and similar pursuits, all executed in the dazzling light, in the dazzling crowd, and largely to the dazzling sound of a band, went on without pause till dinner, after which was a short one-act play in the theatre, followed by a ' quiet dance.' After one day of it Mrs. Massington's quick perceptions made discoveries which she communicated to Bertie.
' You are here to play up,' she said, ' and not to amuse yourself. Don't drink any wine at lunch, and very little at dinner.'
' Then I shall die,' said Bertie.
' No, you will not; you will feel much less tired. The whole day is a stimulant, so why take more? Besides,
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