"It'll be pretty hot for Daph living down there at first," she mused. A joke lasted Nicky a long time: the humorous fiction that the bride-elect would to-morrow be carried off to reside permanently in the infernal regions was still as a savoury bakemeat to her palate. "Of course, Polly"--this was her abbreviation for Apollyon, adopted as soon as that gentleman had ascended from the grade of familiar friend to that of prospective relative--"will be glad to get back to his own fireside, but Daph will feel it a bit, I should think. Perhaps he will let her use a screen to begin with!... I wonder what housekeeping will be like. I suppose the cook will have horns and a tail, and all the food will be devilled. I should like to see Daph ordering dinner. 'Good morning, Diabolo!' 'Good morning, miss! What would you like for dinner to-night?' 'Well, Diabolo, what have you _got_?' 'There's a nice tender sinner came in this morning, miss. You might have a few of his ribs; or would you prefer him served up grilled, with brimstone sauce? And I suppose you would like devils-on-horseback for a savoury.' 'That will do _very_ nicely, Diabolo. Oh, I forgot! It's possible that the Lucifers will drop in. Perhaps we'd better have yesterday's moneylender cold on the side-board in case there isn't enough to go round. And we must have something special to'--Ally, what do people drink in Hades?" "Dunno," said Ally drowsily; "molten lead, I should think." "Only the _lower_ classes, dear," said Nicky witheringly. "I am talking about the best people." "Sulphuric acid?" suggested Ally, who was beginning to study chemistry at school. "That will do," said Nicky, and returned to her dialogue. "'Diabolo, will you tell the butler to put a barrel--no, a _vat_--of sulphuric acid on ice. You know what the Lucifers are, when'--hallo, here's Daph at last!" The bride-elect approached, swinging her garden-hat in her hand, and followed by Mr Dawks. "Well, family," she said, "I'm yours for the rest of the day. What shall we do?" "Where is John?" inquired Ally. (John, it may be explained, was the name by which the family, with the exception of Nicky, had decided to address their future brother-in-law.) "In the study with Dad." "Has he arranged about having the five o'clock train stopped to-morrow afternoon?" inquired the careful Stiffy. "No. We are going in a motor all the way to London," said Daphne. "Jack was keeping it as a surprise for me. It's a new one, a----" "All the way to _where_?" inquired that economical humourist, Miss Veronica Vereker. "London." "H'm! Yes, I _have_ heard it called that, now I come to think of it," conceded Nicky; "but it seems a waste of a good car, especially if it's a new one. Unless it's made of some special--Stiffy, what's the name of that stuff that won't burn?" "Asbestos?"