But she had noticed. She spoke shortly too. "No, thank you, not to have her thrown in my face afterwards. I know you don't think the Smithsons are good enough." I was shocked. "Dearest," I said slowly, "when have I 'thrown things in your face afterwards,' as you call it?" She must indeed have been tried, otherwise she would never have said the absurd thing she did. "Well, if you don't say it, you think it. Better have your friend, Miss Causton. She can go out to dinner with Sir Julius, it seems." "Evie!" I exclaimed, for the moment deeply wounded. "Well, you told me she did, and if she can dine with him she can with you, I suppose." I turned away. "I shall leave it entirely to you," I said. I reproach myself now for my impatience. But instantly her generous little heart was itself again. She ran after me and threw her arms about my neck. "Forgive me, Jeff," she pleaded tearfully. "I didn't mean anything, and I am _so_ afraid of it all! I'm _not_ used to it, you know, but I am doing my best. Do ask Mr Pepper to bring somebody." And we kissed and said no more about it. Perhaps I am foolish to write it down. _14th May._--Evie has made the acquaintance of most of her guests for the seventeenth beforehand. The Hasties have called on her, and Lady Campbell, and Pepper has brought Mrs Richmond (who, I confess, strikes me as rather a superfine Mrs Smithson), and half her fears are gone. She didn't much care for Mrs Richmond, she says; "toney" was the adjective she used; but she quite took dear homely Lady Campbell under her wing. She likes receiving, she says, and remarked, rather acutely, that what makes these little afternoon functions the occasion for bickering they are, is that people seem to rattle off what they have to say without an interval for breath, and then to take their departure. She had Jackie down, and Phyllis was brought down for a moment by her nurse; and Jackie showed Lady Campbell his ship. Lady Campbell married her husband when he was master and a fifth-part owner of a coasting boat; and when Jackie lifted the hatch of his model to show her the "cabin" she laughed, and said it was a far more comfortable cabin than that in which she spent her honeymoon. Then Jackie, of course, wanted to know what a honeymoon was, and when told made some remark about a honeymoon that set everybody laughing except Evie, who blushed. I hope she will not forget how to blush among all her smart ladies. I find her blushing adorable.