“I think it would be safer to get a cab, wouldn’t it?”
“I’ll think about it, and tell you at lunch. Dear Arthur! Well, what else are you going to do?”
“We’re going to the Ramsdens’ dance this evening, and dining there first.”
“Then the other carriage can take us, and if Arthur cares to go to the dance--they didn’t know he’d be back, but I’m sure they want him to come--Lady Ramsden told me so, if he was back by any chance--it can come back here, and take him on again at ten. Then you and I will come back in it, when you’ve had enough, and if Arthur wants to stop, I’m afraid he must find his own way back. Is that all?”
“Well, then, I’ll leave a note for you about Arthur’s luggage, as I shan’t see you at lunch. Where do the Cornishes live?”
“Then it’s the most convenient thing in the world. I’m going to my dentist at half-past twelve, and I shall be back by two. Then the carriage can take you on at once.”
“Well, dear, you’ll only be a few minutes late. It will save you the bother of taking a hansom, or walking.”
“Oh, never mind! I shall be out, I expect, and shall go there straight.”
“Well, then, I might drop you on my way to the dentist’s wherever you liked. If you will be ready at twelve I will take you. Or five minutes to twelve, if you are going out of my way.”
“No, start at twelve as you intended, and if I’m in, and ready, I’ll come with you. Don’t wait for me, mother.”
“If you’d only tell me exactly where you want to go, and when, Maud, I’ve no doubt I could work it in.”
“I’ve got to go to Houghton and Gunn’s first.”
“Very well, then,” said her mother, triumphantly, “nothing can be simpler. I drop you there, and go to the dentist’s. Then I send the carriage back for you, and you do anything else you want, and come back to the dentist’s at half-past one. Then we drive straight to Pont Street, and I drop you again, and go home.”
Maud’s chief object at this moment, it must be confessed, was to get out of the room. So she assented with fervour.
“That’s beautiful, mother. How clever of you to work it all in!”
Lady Chatham heaved a sigh of well-earned satisfaction. “Yes, I think everything is provided for. Ring the bell, darling, will you? I must send word to the stables at once.”