Sir Tiglath had not yet arrived, but Lady Julia Postlethwaite was seated on a sofa by Mrs. Merillia, and was conversing with her about the Court, the dreadful amount of money a certain duke—­her third cousin—­had recently had to pay in Death Duties, the corrupt condition of society, and the absurd pretensions of the lower middle classes.  Lady Julia was sensitive and a very grande dame.  She wore her hair powdered, and had a slight cough and exquisite manners.  Once a lady in waiting, she was now a widow, possessed a set of apartments in Hampton Court Palace, worshipped Queen Alexandra, and had scarcely ever spoken to anybody who moved outside of Court Circles.  The Duke of Wellington was said to have embraced her when a child.

Mrs. Merillia and this lady looked up when the door opened, and Lady Julia paused midway in a sentence, of which these were the opening words,—­

“The old duke wouldn’t make it over, and so poor Loftus has to pay nearly a million to the Chancellor of the Excheq—­”

“How d’you do, Lady Julia?  Grannie, I have persuaded my friends, Mr. and Madame Sagittarius, to join us at dinner.  Sir Tiglath Butt is most anxious to meet Mr. Sagittarius, who is a great astronomer.  Let me—­Madame Sagittarius, Mrs. Merillia—­Mr. Sagittarius—­Mrs. Merillia, my grandmother—­Lady Julia Postlethwaite.”

Mrs. Merillia, although taken completely by surprise, and fully conscious that her grandson had committed an outrage in turning an arranged and intimate quartette without permission into a disorganised sextette, bowed with self-possessed graciousness, and indicated a chair to Madame, who seated herself in it with that sort of defensive and ostentatious majesty which is often supposed by ill-bred people to be a perfect society manner.  Mr. Sagittarius remained standing in his enormous suit, turning out his feet, over which Mr. Ferdinand’s trousers rippled in broadcloth waves, in the first position.  A slight pause ensued, during which the Prophet was uncomfortably affected by the behaviour of Madame, who gazed at the very neat and superior wig worn by Mrs. Merillia, and at that lady’s charming silver grey damask gown, in a manner that suggested amazement tempered with indignation, her instant expression of these two sentiments being only held in check by a certain reverence which was doubtless inspired by the pretty room, the thick carpet, the ancestral pictures upon the walls, and the lofty bearing of Lady Julia Postlethwaite, who could scarcely conceal her very natural surprise at the extraordinary appearance of Mr. Sagittarius.  As to Mrs. Merillia, although she was, in reality, near fainting with wonder at her grandson’s escapade, she preserved an expression of gracious benignity, and did not allow a motion of her eyelids or a flutter of her fan to betray her emotion at finding herself the unprepared hostess of such unusual guests.  The Prophet broke the silence by saying, in a voice that cracked with agitation,—­