of cost—it was a great success, but practically the scent was so overpowering that it was impossible to dance there for more than a few minutes at a time without, so to speak, coming up to breathe. Consequently, there was a good deal of sitting-out done, and Bilton firmly and collectedly managed to spend a large part of the evening with Sybil Massington.
' I should so like to know what you really think of us all,' he said on one of these occasions in his quiet, English-sounding voice.
' I adore you,' said she—' collectively, I mean.'
' Ah, that spoils it all,' said he; ' we all want to be adored individually.'
' There are too many of you for me to do that,' she said; ' I should have to cut my heart up into so many little bits. Wherever I go—there's a song about it—I leave my heart behind me. I always do that. People seem to me very nice.'
' You are taking the rest of the stuffing out,' remarked he in a slightly injured voice.
She laughed.
' Well, I find you all charming,' she said again. ' Will that do?'
' I suppose it will have to. And your friend, Lord Keynes?'
' Ah, he finds one person so charming that I don't think he thinks much about the rest,' she said. Look, there they are.'
Bilton did not look; he had already seen them; he usually saw things first.
' Do you think he will marry her?' he asked.
' Yes; certainly, I hope so. If he marries at all, he must marry money.'
' And Nature clearly designed Miss Palmer to be a peeress. In fact, the match was made in heaven.'
