The day was extremely hot; he was tired, moreover, by a long walk with the guns the day before, and by conversation after dinner, led by Lady Dunstable, which had lasted up to nearly one o'clock in the morning.

The talk had been brilliant, no doubt.

Meadows, however, did not feel that he had come off very well in it.

His hostess had deliberately pitted him against two of the ablest men in England, and he was well aware that he had disappointed her.

Lady Dunstable had a way of behaving to her favourite author or artist of the moment as though she were the fancier and he the cock.