ready. It's what always happens when you're unprepared.
Now if we'd only got up Xingu—"
The slowness of Mrs. Plinth's mental processes was
always allowed for by the club; but this instance of it was
too much for Mrs. Ballinger's equanimity.
"Xingu!" she scoffed. "Why, it was the fact of our knowing
so much more about it than she did—unprepared though
we were—that made Osric Dane so furious. I should have
thought that was plain enough to everybody!"
This retort impressed even Mrs. Plinth, and Laura Glyde,
moved by an impulse of generosity, said: "Yes, we really
ought to be grateful to Mrs. Roby for introducing the topic.
It may have made Osric Dane furious, but at least it made
her civil."
"I am glad we were able to show her," added Miss Van
Vluyck, "that a broad and up-to-date culture is not confined
to the great intellectual centres."
This increased the satisfaction of the other members, and
they began to forget their wrath against Osric Dane in the
pleasure of having contributed to her discomfiture.
Miss Van Vluyck thoughtfully rubbed her spectacles.
"What surprised me most," she continued, "was that
Fanny Roby should be so up on Xingu."
This remark threw a slight chill on the company, but Mrs.
Ballinger said with an air of indulgent irony: "Mrs. Roby
always has the knack of making a little go a long way; still,
we certainly owe her a debt for happening to remember
HYLAND
