[_Produces a folded silk handkerchief, shakes it out, and gently blows his nose._

LUKYN.

[_Lighting a cigarette._] Certainly--certainly--does you great credit.

Pretty woman?

VALE.

Oh, lovely! A most magnificent set of teeth. All real, as far as I can ascertain.

LUKYN.

No?

VALE.

Fact.

LUKYN.

Great loss;--have a cigarette.

VALE.

[_Taking case from LUKYN._] Parascho's?

LUKYN.

Yes. Was she--full grown?

VALE.

[_Lighting his cigarette._] Just perfection. She rides eight-stone fifteen, and I have lost her, Lukyn. Beautiful tobacco.

LUKYN.

What finished it?

VALE.

She gave a man a pair of worked slippers three days after our engagement.

LUKYN.

No?

VALE.

Fact. You remember Bristow--Gordon Bristow?

LUKYN.

Perfectly. Best fellow in the world.

VALE.

He wears them.

LUKYN.

Villain! Will you begin with a light wine, or go right on to the champagne?

VALE.

By Jove, it's broken my heart, old fellow. I'll go right on to the champagne, please. Lukyn, I shall make you my executor.

LUKYN.

Pooh! You'll outlive me! Why don't they bring the supper? My heart has been broken like yours. It was broken first in Ireland in '55. It was broken again in London in '61, but in 1870 it was smashed in Calcutta, by a married lady that time.

VALE.

A married lady?

LUKYN.

Yes, my late wife. Talk about broken hearts, my boy, when you've won your lady, not when you've lost her. [_Enter ISIDORE with a tray of supper things._] The supper. [_To VALE._] Hungry?

VALE.

[_Mournfully._] Very.

_Enter BLOND, with an envelope._

BLOND.

Colonel Lukyn.

LUKYN.

Ah, Blond, how are you? Not a day older. What have you got there?

BLOND.

[_Quietly to LUKYN in an undertone._] Two ladies, Colonel, downstairs in a cab, must see you for a few minutes alone.

LUKYN.

Good gracious! Excuse me, Vale. [_Takes the envelope from BLOND, and opens it: reading the enclosed card._] Mrs. Posket--Mrs. Posket! "Mrs.