CHAPTER XVI.
A MOVEMENT OP THE POWERS At Mrs.Montrayner's dinner parties a world of silent men is sandwiched between a _monde_ of chattering women.

The hostess has a taste for busy celebrities who eat their dinner without thought of the cookery, and regard their fair neighbours much as the diners think of the band in a restaurant.

She chose her company with care, and if at her table there was not the busy clack of a fluent conversation, there was always the possibility of _bons mots_ and the off-chance of a State secret.

So to have dined with the Montrayners became a boast in a small social set, and to the unilluminate the Montrayner banquets seemed scarce less momentous than Cabinet meetings.
Wratislaw found himself staring dully at a snowy bank of flowers and looking listlessly at the faces beyond.

He was extremely worried, and his grey face and sunken eyes showed the labour he had been passing through.