Hereupon Val--or perhaps vermouth, since Val seems a little astonished at his own gallantry--suddenly replies that if he were like that he would have to give up Mrs. Maynard. If Mrs. Maynard also is a little surprised she covers it with great readiness. "Oh, now the dreadful man's beginning again!" she cries. "If you _will_ say those things, Mr. Clayton, I shall have to change places at table!" Mr. Clayton asks here what is wrong with her hair.--"I think it's champion," he adds. "Very nice indeed," he adds once more. "Oh, how _can_ you!" (As a matter of fact, Mrs. Maynard's hair is rather wonderful, dark, and so long that she can sit on it.) "No fish, thank you," she says, with a smile to the waiter. Then Mrs. Lacey's firm voice is heard. "Can anybody tell me whether there have been many wrecks on this coast?" The person best qualified to give this information is John Willie Garden, but Mrs. Maynard has turned to John Willie, and is asking him whether he does not think she swims rather nicely. Her tendril-like fingers are again stroking his hair. Mrs. Lacey considers Mrs. Maynard's tulle-swathed hat the ostentation of modesty and the coquetry of mourning (if she is in mourning), and, getting no answer to her question about the wrecks, invents a name for Mrs. Maynard: "Mrs. Maynard--as she calls herself." Plates are changed, corks pop, and from time to time a seltzogene gives a spurt and a cough. Raymond Briggs explains that he is fond of strawberries, but strawberries are not fond of him. The chatter grows louder. "I took her as a kitchen-maid, but she turned out quite a good plain cook----" "Oh, like a top--as Dr. Smythe says, it's the air." "Oh, I _prefer_ it rustic; like this!" "Quite so--the first tripper and I'm off!" "So I opened her box myself; and there they were, if you please--four silver spoons!----" "Now, June, you and Wy talk French--you haven't talked it for days----" "John's booked the rooms for next year already----" "Oh, _Mis_-ter Clayton! I never promised any such thing!" "They can talk it if they like, as fast as a mill----" "If I were you I should see Tudor Williams about it----" "You can put on your oldest things and there's nobody to see you----" "But really I'm almost ashamed to go about the fright I do!----" "But that's a new dress?----" "_New!_--Last year--but it's good enough for here----" "Can't manage those double-l's----" "Gutturals----" "Llan--Thlan--Lan----" "June, your legs are younger than mine--run and get Aunt May's letter out of my dressing-table drawer----" "Mrs. Smythe?... The best thing for the baby, of course, but I can't help thinking that not _quite_ so publicly----" "Oh, I always let Percy suck, whoever was there!----" "John will have his dinner in the middle of the day----" "Smythe? Oh, one of the nicest fellows, but no push, I'm afraid----" "That's his failing----" "Where he misses it----" "Extraordinary----" "Well, some men are born like that----"