class="smcap">Anne.

Oh, but this is nothing to what you'll get in Upper Egypt.

Violet.

[As she enters.] Is Mrs. Appleby complaining of the heat? I love it.

Anne.

Dear Violet, wait till May comes and June. You don't know how exhausting it gets.

Violet.

I'm looking forward to it. I think in some past life I must have been a lizard.

Mrs. Appleby.

I dare say the first year you won't feel it. I have a brother settled in Canada, and he says the first year people come out from England they don't feel the cold anything like what they do later on.

Anne.

I've spent a good many winters here, and I always make a point of getting away by the fifteenth of March.

Mrs. Appleby.

Oh, are you staying as late as that?

Anne.

Good gracious, no. You make Lady Little's heart positively sink.

Violet.

Nonsense, Anne, you know we want you to stay as long as ever you can.

Anne.

I used to have an apartment in Cairo, but I've given it up now and Lady Little asked me to come and stay at the Agency while I was getting everything settled.

Mrs. Appleby.

Oh, then you knew Sir Arthur before he married?

Anne.

Oh, yes, he's one of my oldest friends. I can't help thinking Lady Little must have great sweetness of character to put up with me.

Violet.

Or you must be a perfect miracle of tact, darling.

Mrs. Appleby.

My belief is, it's a little of both.

Anne.

When Arthur came to see me one day last July and told me he was going to marry the most wonderful girl in the world, of course I thought good-bye. A man thinks he can keep his bachelor friendships, but he never does.

Mrs. Appleby.

His wife generally sees to that.

Violet.

Well, I think it's nonsense, especially with a man like Arthur who'd been a bachelor so long and naturally had his life laid out before ever I came into it. And besides, I'm devoted to Anne.

Anne.

It's dear of you to say so.

Violet.

I came here as an absolute stranger. And after all, I wasn't very old, was I?

Mrs. Appleby.

Nineteen?

Violet.

Oh, no, I was older than that. I was nearly twenty.

Mrs. Appleby.

[Smiling.] Good gracious!

Violet.

It was rather alarming to find oneself on a sudden the wife of a man in Arthur's position. I was dreadfully self-conscious; I felt that everybody's eyes were upon me. And you don't know how easy it is to make mistakes in a country that's half Eastern and half European.

Anne.

To say nothing of having to deal with the representatives of half a dozen Great Powers all outrageously susceptible.

Violet.

And, you know, there was the feeling that the smallest false step might do the greatest harm to Arthur and his work here. I had only just left the schoolroom and I found myself almost a political personage. If it hadn't been for Anne I should have made a dreadful mess of things.

Anne.

Oh, I don't think that. You had two assets which would have made people excuse a great deal of inexperience, your grace and your beauty.

Violet.

You say very nice things to me, Anne.

Mrs. Appleby.

Your marriage was so romantic, I can't see how anyone could help feeling very kindly towards you.

Violet.

There's not much room for romance in the heart of the wife of one of the Agents of the foreign Powers when she thinks she hasn't been given her proper place at a dinner party.

Mrs. Appleby.

I remember wondering at the time whether you weren't a little overcome by all the excitement caused by your marriage.

Violet.

I was excited too, you know.

Mrs. Appleby.

Everyone had always looked upon Sir Arthur as a confirmed bachelor. It was thought he cared for nothing but his work. He's had a wonderful career, hasn't he?

Violet.

The Prime Minister told me he was the most competent man he'd ever met.

Anne.

I've always thought he must be a comfort to any Government. Whenever anyone has made a hash of things he's been sent to put them straight.

Violet.

Well, he always has.

Mrs. Appleby.

Mr. Appleby was saying only this morning he was the last man one would expect to marry in haste.

Violet.

Let's hope he won't repent at leisure.

Anne.

[Smiling.] Mrs. Appleby is dying to know all about it, Violet.

Mrs. Appleby.

I'm an old woman, Lady Little.

Violet.

[Gaily.] Well, I met Arthur at a week-end party. He'd come home on leave and all sorts of important people had been asked to meet him. I was frightened out of my life. The duchesses had strawberry leaves hanging all over them and they looked at me down their noses. And the Cabinet Ministers' wives had protruding teeth and they looked at me up their noses.

Anne.

What nonsense you talk, Violet!

Violet.

I was expecting to be terrified of Arthur. After all, I knew he was a great man. But you know, I wasn't a bit. He was inclined to be rather fatherly at first, so I cheeked him.

Anne.

I can imagine his surprise. No one had done that for twenty years.

Violet.

When you know Arthur at all well you discover that when he wants anything he doesn't hesitate to ask for it. He told our hostess that he wanted me to sit next to him at dinner. That didn't suit her at all, but she didn't like to say no. Somehow people don't say no to Arthur. The Cabinet Ministers' wives looked more like camels than ever, and by Sunday evening, my dear, the duchesses' strawberry leaves began to curl and crackle.

Anne.

Your poor hostess, I feel for her. To have got hold of a real lion for your party and then have him refuse to bother himself with anybody but a chit of a girl whom you'd asked just to make an even number!

Mrs. Appleby.

He just fell in love with you at first sight?

Violet.

That's what he says now.