"I don't advise you to come into the room, though," he said. "I've got a dreadful cold." "I thought you were never ill," said Uncle Matthew. "Well, I'm not. It's a most extraordinary thing. Where I got this cold I cannot imagine," Sir Hector was declaiming when Uncle Matthew cut him short. Jasmine always felt like giggling when Sir Hector was talking to his uncle, because she could not get used to the idea that both Sir Hector and herself should address him as Uncle Matthew. She was still young enough to conceive all people over fifty merged in contemporary senility. "I thought you were going to a dance," said Uncle Matthew to Jasmine. "Oh, Jasmine very kindly offered to stay behind and look after me," Sir Hector explained. "Well, I'll look after you," said Uncle Matthew. His nephew stared at him. "Yes, I'll look after you," the old gentleman repeated. "What time do you take your medicine? _You_ had better get along to the dance," he said to Jasmine. "But Jasmine can't go off to a dance by herself," Sir Hector protested. "Can't she?" said Uncle Matthew. "Well, then I'll go with her, and Selina shall look after you." He went to the door and called downstairs to his housekeeper. "I never heard anything so ridiculous," Sir Hector objected. "Didn't you?" said the old gentleman sardonically. "I'm surprised to hear that. You've been listening to the sound of your own voice for a good many years now, haven't you?" Perhaps Sir Hector's cold was worse than one was inclined to think, from his grumbling, for if he had not been feeling very ill the prospect of being left in charge of Selina must have cured him instantly. "When do you take your medicine?" asked Uncle Matthew. The old gentleman was evidently determined that whatever else was left undone for his nephew's comfort, he should have his full dose of medicine at the hands of the housekeeper. Selina came into the room and settled herself down by the bed with an air of determination that plainly showed the patient what he was in for. Selina's new and more optimistic creed would probably not tend so far as to include Sir Hector Grant among the saved, and what between the patient's pessimism about his state in this world and Selina's pessimism about his state in the world to come, Jasmine felt that if she was ever going to be appreciated by Uncle Hector she should be appreciated by him that night. Meanwhile Uncle Matthew, after settling his nephew, was hurrying her downstairs. "I have found you a gown after all," he announced, "and a much prettier gown than anything you could find in London nowadays. If that gown yesterday cost thirty-five guineas, the one I have got for you would have cost a hundred and thirty-five guineas." "Where is it?"