2 THE SILVER FOX 



with agreeable simplicity. *' Miss Morris 

 cant see anything but your boots." 



" Oh, she likes seeing boots," replied 

 Lady Susan, establishing one on the hob. 

 **They don't have. 'em in Ireland, do they, 

 Slaney ! " 



It was obviously the moment for Miss 

 Morris to say something brilliant, but she 

 let the opportunity slip. Perhaps she was 

 hampered by the consciousness that her 

 boots had been made in an Irish country 

 town. She got red. She did not know 

 that it was becoming to her to get red. 

 Finding no more appropriate retort, she 

 laughed, and pushing back her chair, 

 walked over to the window. What she 

 looked out on was the lawn at Hurlingham, 

 covered smoothly and desolately with snow ; 

 a line of huddled, white hummocks of ice, 

 moving very slowly across the middle dis- 

 tance, represented the Eiver Thames ; down 

 to the right, five or six skaters glided on 

 the black and serpentine curves of a little 

 lake — they looked like marionettes sliding 



