Lord Bolton had in the previous year firmly declined the honour of Mrs. Palmer's acquaintance, saying he did not wish to be deaf for the remainder of a misspent life; and Amelie introduced her to him.
' Very pleased to make your acquaintance, Lord Bolton,' she said; ' and to have the pleasure of meeting you here makes it just too complete.'
Gallio shook hands.
' I have looked forward to this,' he said with his best paternal air. ' Bertie, dear Amelie, you, and my unworthy self—the family group in the family frame.' And his eye wandered over the great gray façade of the house.
' Well, I think that's too beautifully put,' said Mrs. Palmer; ' that's a real poetical thought. Lewis,' she called to her husband, ' Lord Bolton's been too poetical for words. Well, I'm sure!'
Gallio's thin lips tightened a little.
' How are you, Mr. Palmer?' he said. ' I am most fortunate to have been able to come down to-day. I was afraid I should not be able to, but when my dear daughter said you were both coming, I could not let anything stand in the way.'
' Why, that was just lovely of you,' said Mrs. Palmer, as she moved to Amelie's side at the tea-table, and went on in a loud aside, as Gallio engaged Mr. Palmer in conversation. ' Dearest child,' she said, ' you look simply too sweet. And I've lost my heart to Lord Bolton. I think he's just lovely, with his white hair and all—just the old nobleman I used to dream about before I married Lewis. Now, give me some tea, poured out with your own hands at your own house, you darling Countess of Keynes. Well, I'm sure, I'm just crazy with pleasure!'
Mrs. Palmer flowed on in a shrill and equable torrent of conversation. Her particular timbre of voice made talking in her vicinity as difficult as talking in a railway-tunnel, for
