"
"Did you see much of the aristocracy, Mr Murchison?"
asked Mrs Williams.
"No," replied Lorne, "but I saw Wallingham."
"You saw the whole House of Lords," interposed Stella,
"and you were introduced to three."
"Well, yes, that's so. Fine-looking set of old chaps they
are, too. We're a little too funny over here about the
Lords--we haven't had to make any."
"What were they doing the day you were there, Lorne?"
asked Williams.
"Motorcar legislation," replied Lorne. "Considerably
excited about it, too. One of them had had three dogs
killed on his estate. I saw his letter about it in the
Times."
"I don't see anything to laugh at in that," declared
Stella. "Dogs are dogs."
"They are, sister, especially in England."
"Laundresses aren't washerwomen there," observed Mrs
Murchison. "I'd like you to see the colour of the things
he's brought home with him, Mrs Williams. Clean or dirty,
to the laundry they go--weeks it will take to get them
right again--ingrained London smut and nothing else."
"In this preference business they've got to lead the
way," Williams reverted. "We're not so grown up but what
grandma's got to march in front. Now, from your exhaustive
observation of Great Britain, extending over a period of
six weeks, is she going to?"
"My exhaustive observation," said Lorne, smiling, "enables
me to tell you one thing with absolute accuracy; and that
is that nobody knows.
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