You must be prepared." "Introduce me to whom ?" demanded Brock, pricking up his ears.

He was following Medcroft to the elevator.
"To my wife--Edith," said Medcroft, annoyed by the other's obtuseness.
"Does it require preparation for an ordeal so charming ?" laughed Brock.
He was recalling the fact that Medcroft had married a beautiful Philadelphia girl some years ago in London, a young lady whom he had never seen, so thoroughly expatriated had she become in consequence of almost a lifetime residence in England.

He remembered now that she was rich and that he had sent her a ridiculously expensive present and a congratulatory cablegram at the time of the wedding.

Also, it occurred to him that the Medcrofts had asked him to visit them at their shooting-box for several seasons in succession, and that their town house was always open to him.

While he had not ignored the invitations, he had never responded in person.