"Yes," Mr. Flaxman Reed was saying, "my work _is_ disheartening. Half my parish are animals, brutalised by starvation, degraded out of all likeness to men and women."
"How dreadful! What hard work it must be!"
"Hard enough to find decent food and clothing for their bodies. But to have to 'create a soul under those ribs of death'----" he paused. His voice seemed suddenly to run dry.
"Yes," said Audrey in her buoyant staccato, "I can't think how you manage it."
There was a moment of silence. Wyndham had turned from Miss Armstrong; Knowles and Ted had long ago joined Miss Haviland at the other end of the room, where Mr. Dixon Barnett, still irresistibly attracted by Katherine, hovered round and round the little group, with the fatal "desire of the moth for the star." Audrey stood up; Miss Armstrong was holding out her hand and pleading a further engagement. The little woman looked sour and ruffled: Wyndham's manner had acted on her like vinegar on milk. She was followed by Mr. Flaxman Reed. Wyndham dropped into the seat he left.
"Dixon," said Mrs. Barnett in a low voice which the explorer knew and obeyed. They were going on to a large "At Home."
Audrey turned to Wyndham with a smile, "I hope you are not going to follow them, Mr. Wyndham?"
"No; I'm not a person of many engagements, I'm thankful to say. Barnett hasn't much the cut of a great explorer, has he?"
"No; but those wiry little men can go through a great deal."
"A very great deal. Is Mrs. Barnett a friend of yours?"
"Mere curiosity. That mouth of hers ought to have a bit in it. It's enough to send any man exploring in Central Asia. I can understand Barnett's mania for regions untrodden by the foot of man--or woman."
Audrey laughed a little nervously. "I made a mistake in introducing him to Miss Haviland."
"It was a little cruel of you. But not half so unkind as asking Miss Armstrong to meet Knowles. That was a refinement of cruelty."
"Didn't you know that Knowles went for Miss Armstrong in last week's 'Piccadilly'? Criticised, witticised, slaughtered, and utterly made game of her?"
"No? I'd no idea! I thought they'd be delighted to meet each other; and I know so few really clever people, you know" (this rather plaintively). "He does cut up people so dreadfully, too."