It was evident her recent
uniform had included a collar of great severity. Miss Seyffert had
revealed a plump forearm and proclaimed it with a clash of bangles. Dr.
Martineau thought her evening throat much too confidential.
The conversation drifted from topic to topic. It had none of the
steady continuity of Sir Richmond's duologue with Miss Grammont. Miss
Seyffert's methods were too discursive and exclamatory. She broke every
thread that appeared. The Old George at Salisbury is really old;
it shows it, and Miss Seyffert laced the entire evening with her
recognition of the fact. "Just look at that old beam!" she would cry
suddenly. "To think it was exactly where it is before there was a Cabot
in America!"
Miss Grammont let her companion pull the talk about as she chose. After
the animation of the afternoon a sort of lazy contentment had taken
possession of the younger lady. She sat deep in a basket chair and spoke
now and then. Miss Seyffert gave her impressions of France and Italy.
She talked of the cabmen of Naples and the beggars of Amalfi.
Apropos of beggars, Miss Grammont from the depths of her chair threw out
the statement that Italy was frightfully overpopulated. "In some parts
of Italy it is like mites on a cheese. Nobody seems to be living.
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