"Perseverance Row, fower doors from t' 'Arabian Horse'----," Mr. Crabtree bawled hospitably through the hubbub.... "Oh, you _must_ see it--the New Greek Society, on the seventeenth----" "But I say--what _is_ 'Catching of Quails,' Miss Belchamber----?" "Mr. Wilkinson brought him, I think----" "Fellow of All Souls, wasn't he?----" Then that genial Aberford man again: "I tell ye t' gap's ower wide, young man--ye'll get lost o' t' road----" "No, the children take her name----" "Got a match, old fellow?----" "Rot, my dear chap!----" "But what _is_ condonation if that isn't?----" "Oh, the ordinary brainless Army type----" "I read it in the German----" "They gained time by paying in pennies----" "In Père Lachaise----" "Well, we can talk about it at suppertime----" "But with cheaper Divorce----" "One an' all--whenivver ye like--Eeali Crabtree, Perseverance Row, Aberford, fower doors from t' 'Arabian Horse'----" "Nietzsche----" "Finot----" "Weininger----" "Wadham----" "Aberford----" "Rufty Tufty----" VI THE SOUL STORM "I--say!----" "_Wasn't_ he priceless!----" "You got his address, Cosimo? I _must_ cultivate him!----" "Pure delight!----" "You had come in, hadn't you, Amory?----" "He _shot_ Brimby!----" "To all intents and purposes--with his finger----" "Can you do his accent, Walter?----" "I will in a week, or perish----" "His bath in the kitchen!----" "T' wed 'uns can sleep i' t' little chamber----" "No--he didn't sound the 'b' in 'chamber,' and there were at least three 'a's' in it----" "'T' little chaaam'er'----" "No, you haven't quite got it----" "Give me a little time----" The party had dwindled to six--Cosimo and Amory, the Wyrons, and Britomart Belchamber and Mr. Strong. They were still in the studio, but they were only waiting for the supper-gong to ring. Cigarette ends were thickly strewn about the asbestos log. The bandying of short ecstatic phrases had been between Walter and his wife, with Cosimo a little less rapturously intervening; the subject of them was, of course, Mr. Crabtree. To his general harangue Mr. Crabtree had added, before leaving, more particular words of advice, making a second tour of the studio for the purpose; and he had distinguished Walter above all the rest by inviting him, not merely to the house four doors from the "Arabian Horse," but to spend a warm afternoon with him on Douglas Head also. But the Wyrons had these raptures pretty much to themselves. Perhaps Cosimo was thinking of Mr. Wilkinson, of some new paper of which he had never heard, and of the assumption that he, apparently, was to find the money for it. Miss Belchamber was rarely rapturous, so that her silence was nothing out of the way. Edgar Strong could be rapturous when he chose, but he evidently didn't choose now. And Amory had far too much on her mind.