_Sympathetic Lady Guest_. "Don't be unhappy about the rain, dear Mrs. Bounderson--it will soon be over, and your garden will be lovelier than ever." _Little Mrs. Goldmore Bounderson_ (who is giving her first Garden Party). "Yes; but I'm afraid it will keep my most desirable guests from coming!" This last duologue is pure du Maurier. It is subtle. "Feline Amenities" again: "How kind of you to call--I'm sorry to have kept you waiting!" "Oh, don't mention it.--I've not been at all bored! I've been trying to imagine what I should do to make this room look comfortable if it were mine!" (_November_ 22, 1892). The "Things one would rather have expressed otherwise" is a good series too: _The Professor_ (to Hostess). "Thank you so much for a most delightful evening! I shall indeed go to bed with pleasant recollections--and _you_ will be the very _last_ person I shall think of!" And again, of the same series: _Fair Hostess_. "Good-night, Major Jones. We're supposed to breakfast at nine, but we're not very punctual people. Indeed the later you appear to-morrow morning, the better pleased we shall all be" (_May_ 13, 1893). "Things one would rather have left unsaid": _He_. "Yes, I know Bootle slightly, and confess I don't think much of him!" _She_. "I know him a little too. He took me in to dinner a little while ago!" _He_. "Ah, that's just about all he's fit for!" _The Hostess_. "Dear Miss Linnet! would you--would you sing one of those charming ballads, while I go and see if supper's ready?" _The Companion_. "O, don't ask me--I feel nervous. There are so many people." _The Hostess_. "O, they won't listen, bless you! not one of them! _Now_ DO!!!" And here is a conversation that betrays the presence of one of the currents of public feeling below the smooth surface of well-bred twaddle: _In the Metropolitan Railway_. "I beg your pardon, but I think I had the pleasure of meeting you in Rome last year?" "No, I've never been nearer to Rome than St. Alban's." "St. Alban's? Where is that?" "Holborn." Some rather amusing speeches of a different character in which du Maurier assails the more obvious forms of snobbery of a class below those with whom his art was generally concerned may be given: _Among the Philistines_. _Grigsby_. "Do you _know_ the Joneses, Mrs. Brown?" "No, we--er--don't care to know _Business_ people as a rule, although my husband's in business; but then he's in the _Coffee_ Business and they're all _gentlemen_ in the _Coffee_ Business, you know!" _Grigsby_ (who always suits himself to his company). "_Really_ now! Why, that's more than can be said of the Army, the Navy, the Church, the Bar, or even the _House of Lords_! I don't _wonder_ at your being rather _exclusive_!" (_Punch's Almanac_, 1882).