“He’ll turn up by-and-by,” interposed Mrs. Kybird, looking somewhat morosely at the company. “They don’t notice ’ow the time flies, that’s all.” “Time does go,” murmured Mrs. Kingdom, with a glance at the clock. Mrs. Kybird started. “Ah, and we notice it too, ma’am, at our age,” she said, sweetly, as she settled herself in her chair and clasped her hands in her lap. “I can’t ’elp looking at you, my dear,” she continued, looking over at Miss Nugent. “There’s such a wonderful likeness between Jack and you. Don’t you think so, ma’am?” Mrs. Kingdom in a freezing voice said that she had not noticed it. “Of course,” said Mrs. Kybird, glancing at her from the corner of her eye, “Jack has ’ad to rough it, pore feller, and that’s left its mark on ’im. I’m sure, when we took ’im in, he was quite done up, so to speak. He’d only got what ’e stood up in, and the only pair of socks he’d got to his feet was in such a state of ’oles that they had to be throwed away. I throwed ’em away myself.” “Dear me,” said Mrs. Kingdom. “He don’t look like the same feller now,” continued the amiable Mrs. Kybird; “good living and good clothes ’ave worked wonders in ’im. I’m sure if he’d been my own son I couldn’t ’ave done more for ’im, and, as for Kybird, he’s like a father to him.” “Dear me,” said Mrs. Kingdom, again. Mrs. Kybird looked at her. It was on the tip of her tongue to call her a poll parrot. She was a free-spoken woman as a rule, and it was terrible to have to sit still and waste all the good things she could have said to her in favour of unsatisfying pin-pricks. She sat smouldering. “I s’pose you miss the capt’in very much?” she said, at last. “Very much,” was the reply. “And I should think ’e misses you,” retorted Mrs. Kybird, unable to restrain herself; “’e must miss your conversation and what I might call your liveliness.” Mrs. Kingdom turned and regarded her, and the red stole back to her cheeks again. She smoothed down her dress and her hands trembled. Both ladies were now regarding each other in a fashion which caused serious apprehension to the rest of the company. “I am not a great talker, but I am very careful whom I converse with,” said Mrs. Kingdom, in her most stately manner. “I knew a lady like that once,” said Mrs. Kybird; “leastways, she wasn’t a lady,” she added, meditatively. Mrs. Kingdom fidgeted, and looked over piteously at her niece; Mrs. Kybird, with a satisfied sniff, sat bolt upright and meditated further assaults. There were at least a score of things she could have said about her adversary’s cap alone: plain, straightforward remarks which would have torn it to shreds. The cap fascinated her, and her fingers itched as she gazed at it. In more congenial surroundings she might have snatched at it, but, being a woman of strong character, she suppressed her natural instincts, and confined herself to more polite methods of attack.