Then Olga threaded her way through the
besprinkled floor, and came up to her.
"How wise you were to miss that very poor performance," she said. "But
Mr Georgie insisted that I should make a fool of myself."
"Indeed, I am sorry not to have been here for it," said Lucia in her
most stately manner. "It seemed to me very far from being a poor
performance, very far indeed. _Caro mio_, you remember Miss
Bracely."
"_Si, si molto bene_," said Peppino, shaking hands.
"Ah, and you talk Italian," said Olga. "_Che bella lingua!_ I wish
I knew it."
"You have a very good pronunciation," said Lucia.
"_Tante grazie_. You know everyone here of course. Now, what shall
we do next? Clumps or charades or what? Ah, there are some cigarettes.
Won't you have one?"
Lucia gave a little scream of dismay.
"A cigarette for me? That would be a very odd thing," she said. Then
relenting, as she remembered that Olga must be excused for her
ignorance, she added: "You see I never smoke. Never."
"Oh, you should learn," said Olga. "Now let's play clumps. Does
everyone know clumps? If they don't they will find out. Or shall we
dance? There's the gramophone to dance to."
Lucia put up her hands in playful petition.
"Oh please, no gramophone!" she said.
"Oh, don't you like it?" said Olga. "It's so horrible that I adore it,
as I adore dreadful creatures in an aquarium.
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