Mrs. Jarley, waxworks, and audience swung into the final chorus. Even the four inverted Casabiancas at the back assisted by swinging their legs. "She sent for Mrs. Jarley on the spot! And the girls were quite content with what they got. They were spared that youth entrancing, Who says: 'I don't much care for dancing, But I don't mind sitting out with you--eh, what?'" But Cherry Ripe was not singing. She was saying to herself,-- "Not in the hall, and not behind the scenes! I wonder where he can have got to! He _may_ have missed his train, of course; but then he could have wired, hours ago. Well, Hughie, _mon ami_, if that's the way you treat invitations--" But the curtain had fallen, and all the waxworks were scuffling off their high chairs and trooping to the dressing-rooms. Cherry Ripe, following their example, put an arm round Pierrette, and said:-- "Come along, Sylvia! Home, supper, and a dance! That's the programme now." On reaching Manors, Joan enquired of Mr. Goble,-- "Is Mr. Hughie back, John?" "'Deed, no, mem." "Any telegram, or anything?" asked Joan carelessly. "Naething whatever! He'll no be back till the morn, I doot," said Mr. Goble. Two hours later, when supper was over and the dancing at its height, Mr. Haliburton approached Joan. "Our dance, I think, Cherry Ripe?" he said. Cherry Ripe concurred. "Will you come and sit in the conservatory?" continued Haliburton. "I want to say something particular to you." Joan regarded him covertly for a moment. "All right!" she said. CHAPTER XVII IN WHICH CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME, AND HUGHIE MISSES HIS TRAIN The dentist laid aside his excavating pick with a regretful sigh, and began to fit what looked like a miniature circular saw into the end of the electric drill. Hughie, recumbent in the chair, telling himself resolutely that, appearances to the contrary, the man was doing this because it was really necessary, and not from mere voluptuousness, cautiously inserted his tongue into the hole, and calculated that the final clearance would be a three minutes' job at the shortest. "It seems hard to believe," said the dentist morosely, setting the machinery of the drill in motion with his foot, "that your teeth have not been attended to for eight years. A little wider, please!" Hughie realised that he was being called a liar as unmistakably as a man can be; but at this moment the drill came into full operation, and he merely gripped the arms of the chair. "A man," continued the dentist, removing the drill and suddenly syringing the cavity with ice-cold water,--"empty, please!--should make a point of having his teeth inspected once every six months; a woman, once every three."