There was an atmosphere about his host and Lady Cynthia, shared in a negative way by Margaret Hilditch, which baffled Francis.

It seemed to establish more than a lack of sympathy--to suggest, even, a life lived upon a different plane.

Yet every now and then their references to everyday happenings were trite enough.

Sir Timothy had assailed the recent craze for drugs, a diatribe to which Lady Cynthia had listened in silence for reasons which Francis could surmise.
"If one must soothe the senses," Sir Timothy declared, "for the purpose of forgetting a distasteful or painful present, I cannot see why the average mind does not turn to the contemplation of beauty in some shape or other.

A night like to-night is surely sedative enough.