Now I, as a unit of society, am
independent of cooks because I can cook myself, and if all the
other units were independent, society itself would be independent--
ecco!"
"To speak in this tone of a serious science like Euclid seems
rather frivolous," said Mrs. Gradinger. "I may observe--" but here
mercifully the observation was checked by the entry of Mrs. St.
Aubyn Fothergill.
She was a handsome woman, always dominated by an air of serious
preoccupation, sumptuously, but not tastefully dressed. In the
social struggle upwards, wealth was the only weapon she possessed,
and wealth without dexterity has been known to fail before this.
She made efforts, indeed, to imitate Mrs. Sinclair in the
elegancies of menage, and to pose as a woman of mind after the
pattern of Mrs. Gradinger; but the task first named required too
much tact, and the other powers of endurance which she did not
possess.
"You'll have some tea, Mrs. Fothergill?" said the Marchesa. "It's
so good of you to have come.
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