"It has done me worlds of good," Mrs. Leveret interjected,
seeming to herself to remember that she had either taken
it or read it the winter before.
"Of course," Mrs. Roby admitted, "the difficulty is that
one must give up so much time to it. It's very long."
"I can't imagine," said Miss Van Vluyck, "grudging the
time given to such a subject."
"And deep in places," Mrs. Roby pursued; (so then it was
a book!) "And it isn't easy to skip."
"I never skip," said Mrs. Plinth dogmatically.
"Ah, it's dangerous to, in Xingu. Even at the start there are
places where one can't. One must just wade through."
"I should hardly call it wading," said Mrs. Ballinger sar-
castically.
Mrs. Roby sent her a look of interest. "Ah—you always
found it went swimmingly?"
Mrs. Ballinger hesitated. "Of course there are difficult
passages," she conceded.
"Yes; some are not at all clear—even," Mrs. Roby added,
"if one is familiar with the original."
"As I suppose you are?" Osric Dane interposed, suddenly
fixing her with a look of challenge.
Mrs. Roby met it by a deprecating gesture. "Oh, it's really
HYLAND
