Olga opened the door herself and there was Mrs Quantock on the doorstep
with her invitation for Saturday night. She was obliged to refuse, but
promised to look in, if she was not very late in getting away from Mrs
Lucas's (and pop went the cat out of the bag). Another romp would be
lovely.
Already the evils of decentralisation and overlapping were becoming
manifest. Lucia rang up house after house, only to find that its
inhabitants were already engaged. She had got Olga and Georgie, and
could begin the good work of education and the crushing of rivalry, not
by force but by pure and refined example, but Mrs Quantock had got
everybody else. In the old days this could never have happened for
everything devolved round one central body. Now with the appearance of
this other great star, all the known laws of gravity and attraction
were upset.
Georgie, again summoned to the telephone, recommended an appeal to Mrs
Quantock's better nature, which Lucia rejected, doubting whether she
had one.
"But what about the tableaux?" asked Georgie. "We three can't very well
do tableaux for Miss Olga to look at."
Then Lucia showed herself truly great.
"The merit of the tableaux does not consist in the number of the
audience," she said.
She paused a moment.
"Have you got the Cophetua-robe to set properly?" she asked.
"Oh, it'll do," said Georgie dejectedly.
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