Mrs. Scarsdale bowed; she was so angry at the cool insolence that this statement implied that she did not feel she could trust herself to speak.
"Now we will begin," said her ladyship, as she proceeded to demolish a boiled egg. "What is your Christian name?"
"Very well. Then I shall call you Mabel in future; it is ridiculous to address you as Mrs. Scarsdale."
"I really don't see----" began that lady.
"Excuse me," interrupted her questioner, "I will make the comments when necessary. When were you married?"
"Yesterday afternoon at two-thirty o'clock."
"Where did you and your husband intend to pass last night?"
"You bought the tickets! Is that customary in your country?"
"I am not here to discuss the customs of my country, Lady Melton. I bought the tickets because I chose to do so, and considered myself better fitted to arrange the trip than my husband."
"Really! I suppose that is the reason you selected the most roundabout way to reach Exeter. Your husband could have told you that you should have taken another railway, the Great Western."
"My husband," said Mrs. Scarsdale stiffly, "did not know our destination."
"I say that my husband did not know our destination."
Her ladyship surveyed her for a moment in shocked and silent disapproval, and then remarked:
"I think I understood you to say that you travelled together as far as Basingstoke?"
"Yes, and there St. Hubart met a friend."
"Mr. Allingford? Yes. He was also married yesterday, and came to our carriage to congratulate me."
"And my nephew went to speak to Mrs. Allingford."
"Exactly. And the first thing we knew the train was moving."
"That is just what we did, though Mr. Allingford tried to leave the carriage and return to his wife."
"It would have been better had he never left her."
"Excuse me. Do I understand you to say that you forcibly detained him?"
"I'm sorry if you are shocked; it was all I could catch hold of."
"I shall reserve my criticism of these very astonishing performances, Mabel; but permit me to say that you have much to learn concerning the manners and customs of English society."
"Then," said Mrs. Scarsdale, ignoring this last remark, "we came to Salisbury."
"And telegraphed to Basingstoke for information."
"Exactly. But they could tell us nothing; so when I saw your carriage----"