“The lady with the shoulders next to me turned and asked me something that I didn’t exactly catch, and I turned round rather suddenly and said, ‘Beg pardon?’ Knocked the arm of the girl who was serving the fish, and as near upset the plate that she held in her hand as didn’t matter. I jumps up, and then for the first time I recognised it was Alice.” “Wasn’t she took aback?” “Not half so much as I was,” said Erb. “I suppose being rather a large dinner party they’d laid her on extra. Of course, I shook hands with her and said, ‘Hullo, Alice, how’s the world using you?’” “Well, you are,” said Louisa with horror, “absolutely the biggest juggins I ever come across.” “But what was I to do?” “Do?” echoed the short sister. “Do? I could have soon shown you what to do. All you’d got to do was to take no notice of her. Ignore her! Look past her! Pretend she wasn’t there! You’ll never get asked again, that’s a very sure thing.” “I don’t care,” answered Erb. “I’m an awkward chap in these West End circles. When I’m not in ’em I want to be there, and once I’m there I look round directly for an open door to slip out of.” “And what did Miss Alice have to say for herself?” asked Louisa, coming back to the incident with relish. “Oh, she kept very cool, and she just whispered, ‘Sit down, Erb, and behave.’” “That’s her all over.” “They stared at me naturally enough, and young Lady Frances seemed a bit upset just for a moment, and nobody spoke for a bit, but after a while they were all chatting away again, and the party with the shoulders next to me began asking me what I thought of the new woman at Covent Garden. Then I put me foot in it again,” said Erb amusedly. “I thought she meant the market.” “How they’d pull you to pieces after you left,” remarked Louisa sighing. “I can ’ear ’em saying things.” “I can’t,” said Erb contentedly. “And if I did I shouldn’t care. What would you have done,” he appealed to Rosalind, “what would you have done, now, in similar circumstances?” Rosalind, as she put on her gloves, considered for a moment before replying. Then she leaned towards him and touched Erb’s knee lightly. “I should have done,” she said, “exactly as you did.” There were several reasons why Erb should not take her by the arms; all these reasons jumped up before him as he rose and made a step forward. He stopped himself with an effort, and preceded her to the door. They went downstairs, and he walked bareheaded as far as the “Lord Nelson.” “You were never nearer being kissed,” he said to her ear, “in all your life.” “Please, please,” she said reprovingly.