MISS BADSWORTH, M.F.H. 177 



on them now they are down," in a stage whisper, hardly- 

 served to stem the tide of depression. The champagne came 

 to the rescue, and Mrs. Dickinson dashed forward as might 

 a leader of a forlorn hope or an enthusiast who seeks to 

 stamp out a vice by means of denunciations, when the 

 friendly and sympathetic hand upon the shoulder and one 

 kind word would lead where it could not drive. 



The majority of the guests were looking at their plates and 

 feeling uncomfortable. Three were not. Miss Badsworth 

 at the head of the table made no sign, but gazed calmly in 

 front of her ; she had heard similar things before. Lady 

 Flora opposite looked fixedly and unflinchingly at the speaker 

 with just a symptom of cynical disapproval, which was half 

 merriment, at the corners of her lips ; and Joe Summers, 

 considerably further off, put a hand behind his ear. 



In the well-known, one-sided arguments of the Humani- 

 tarian Society, which forgets that thousands of wild animals 

 would not enjoy any existence at all were it not for their pre- 

 servation, and is ignorant of such a thing as true sport and 

 fairplay, Mrs. Dickinson dealt with her audience, and went so 

 far as to describe a " fox chase," as she called it, terminating 

 with " innocent blood dripping from cruel fangs of infuriated 

 dogs ". 



Not a sound issued from the astonished company beyond 

 a gurgle from somewhere in Jack's neighbourhood. Mrs. 

 Dickinson had worked herself up ; if she went down it 

 should be with the banner of her creed over her as a pall. 



" For this purpose, and only this, we appear to have met 

 to-day, to reward those who, instead of favouring their fellow- 

 creatures, have wasted their time in guiding the tottering 

 footsteps of one class of dumb creatures in order that they 

 may be more successfully hounded on to the destruction of 

 another class." 



When Mrs. Dickinson sat down there was an ominous 

 pause. Who was to put things right ? Major Creswell's 

 ejaculation under his breath, ** The woman's drunk," tra- 

 velled sufficiently far to be audible to several. Lady Flora 



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