"Oh no," corrected the old woman, tartly; "you took the better, and Freddy took the worse." Mrs. Penworthy, not being ready with an answer, murmured something about "jealous old thing," and moved away with her court to where Lord Sargon was holding forth on his pet craze. "If only our ancient kings were back," he said, but not too loud, as the Duke might have disapproved of the disloyalty, "Christmas would be Christmas. In the good old times of the blessed martyr Charles----" "The bad old times," contradicted Mr. Graham; "it was then that our beloved country began to annex places which are useless. Let us give up everything beyond the Channel, and attend to our own country. Then, indeed, Christmas will be Christmas." "And the parish pump will pour forth beer," said Mr. Jaffray, referring to the badge of the Little Englander. "Ah, the conduits ran wine in those sweet old days," sighed his sister, in her poetic vein. "And people never washed," said a truculent old gentleman given to sanitation. "What I say is, let every house have a bath-room." "I say, Jim, is this going to last for ever?" asked Leah, considerably bored by these intellectual fireworks. "A week, anyhow," replied Jim, who was feeling happy after a large dinner; "but if you will come to the Zoo, Leah, you mustn't find fault with th' animals." "They are scarcely so interesting." "Oh! Animals don't talk, I 'spose you mean." "You do," retorted Lady Jim, calmly. "There's Demetrius!" and she left her husband in the clutches of Mrs. Penworthy, with a whispered caution. "Don't let her go too far, Jim. This week we're the respectable middle-class pair, who live in slate-roofed houses." Jim did not quite understand, but he vaguely guessed that he was to keep Mrs. Penworthy at a distance. For some minutes he did this, but she soon overcame his scruples, and begged him to take her to the picture gallery. The discreet court did not follow. Constantine Demetrius was a small, dark, neat man with an ivory complexion, black hair, a waxed moustache, and a stereotyped smile. He was dressed perfectly in a foreign fashion, and placed his small feet together when he made his bow to Lady Jim. His English was much better than his morals, and perhaps this was why Lady Jim beckoned him to her side. Demetrius was one of her most ardent admirers, and she had a vague idea of making use of him. At present she did not see how to utilise his services, but if ever she required a thoroughly unscrupulous man, she knew that she would need him. Besides, he was really a clever doctor, and when Lady Jim was ill, she felt it would hasten the cure to think she was being attended to for nothing. "What do you think of all this?" she asked him, when they were snugly bestowed in a cosy corner. "It is very English," said the Russian, with a shrug. "That means very dull!" Demetrius clicked his heels together and made a bow from the middle of his body. "At present I cannot say so," said he, gallantly.