"'E is--how do you say ?--shocked ?" She seated herself on Pennell's knee, and, putting an arm round his neck, kissed him again, looking across at Peter mischievously.

"We show 'im French kiss," she added to Pennell, and pouted out her lips to his.
"Well, now you 'ave come, what do you want ?" demanded the girl on the arm of Peter's chair.

"Sit down," she said imperiously, patting the seat, "and talk to me." Peter laughed more lightly than he felt.

"Well, I want a drink," he said, at random.

"Pen," he called across the room, "what about that drink ?" The girl by him reached over and touched a bell.