Sir
Nigel and Lady Anstruthers had given a garden party, according to the
decrees of the law obtaining in country neighbourhoods. The curiosity
to behold Miss Vanderpoel, and the change which had been worked in the
well-known desolation and disrepair, precluded the possibility of the
refusal of any invitations sent, the recipient being in his or her
right mind, and sound in wind and limb. That astonishing things had been
accomplished, and that the party was a successful affair, could not but
be accepted as truths. Garden parties had been heard of, were a trifle
repetitional, and even dull, but at this one there was real music and
real dancing, and clever entertainments were given at intervals in a
green-embowered little theatre, erected for the occasion. These were
agreeable additions to mere food and conversation, which were capable of
palling.
To the garden party the Anstruthers did not confine themselves.
There were dinner parties at Stornham, and they also were successful
functions. The guests were of those who make for the success of such
entertainments.
"I called upon Mount Dunstan this afternoon," Sir Nigel said one
evening, before the first of these dinners. "He might expect it, as one
is asking him to dine.
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