He presented the sisters to her, and Mrs.Luke, bowing grandly at a distance, drew from her bosom a gold-rimmed _pince-nez_, through which she scrutinized Monica.

The smile which followed might have been interpreted in several senses; Widdowson, alone capable of remarking it, answered with a look of severe dignity.
Mrs.Luke had no thought of apologizing for the lateness of her arrival, and it was evident that she did not intend to stay long.

Her purpose seemed to be to make the occasion as informal as possible.
'Do you, by chance, know the Hodgson Bulls ?' she asked of her relative, interrupting him in the nervous commonplaces with which he was endeavouring to smooth the way to a general conversation.

She had the accent of cultivation, but spoke rather imperiously.
'I never heard of them,' was the cold reply.
'No?
They live somewhere about here.

I have to make a call on them.