JUSTINA. Indeed, aunt? [JUSTINA _retires_; SIR FLETCHER _advances_. MRS. CLOYS _kisses him, then looks him up and down_. MRS. CLOYS. Well, Fletcher, so they’ve knighted you, have they? SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. Lord Cranbery was gracious enough to recommend—— MRS. CLOYS. How much did it cost you? SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. Cost me! MRS. CLOYS. Well, you’ve made money; I suppose you could afford it. SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. Pray let us——! MRS. CLOYS. Don’t puff yourself out at me, Fletcher. SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. I am doing nothing of the kind, Harriet. MRS. CLOYS. Then don’t. SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. Er—how is the bishop? MRS. CLOYS. Old. SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. Old? Let me see—my marvellous head for figures should serve me—— MRS. CLOYS. Very old. SIR FLETCHER PORTWOOD. Born in—— MRS. CLOYS. We’re all getting old; that’s why you have the pleasure of seeing me amongst you once more. [_Turning to_ CLAUDE, _who bows stiffly_.] My nephew? [_Shaking hands with him and looking him in the face searchingly._] You’re rather old too. [_Sharply._] Who’s that there? MRS. QUINTON TWELVES. [_Who has been hidden by the flowers on the piano-forte, advancing, with a nervous outburst._] Oh, I hope you remember me, dear Mrs. Cloys—Kitty Twelves. I was Kitty Powis, if you recollect. MRS. CLOYS. I recollect. Weren’t you at school in Paris with Justina and Theophila, and afterwards——? MRS. QUINTON TWELVES. Yes. Isn’t this interesting? Quinton, my husband, was _confirmed_ by the Bishop of St. Olpherts! I never discovered it till we’d been married for ages—I mean, weeks and weeks—[_gradually quailing under_ MRS. CLOYS’S _gaze_]—and then one day—he—he happened to see me kissing the sweetest photograph of you—and and—and—— MRS. CLOYS. Mrs. Twills, I understood from my sister there was a purely family gathering here this afternoon—— MRS. QUINTON TWELVES. [_Offering her hand._] I—I have to go on elsewhere—— MRS. CLOYS. [_Detaining her hand._] My dear, _you_ were extremely old when I last saw you, during your first season, in eighty-something; I pray, now you’re married, that you are—younger.