“What do you think would happen to her?” asked Mr. Lorimer gruffly. He was a young man of combative instincts and no manners, with whom Miss Semaphore waged a deadly but, on her side, perfectly civil warfare. “My dear father,” went on Miss Semaphore, without taking any notice, “who was a distinguished military officer, strongly objected to girls going about alone.” “That was all very well thirty years ago,” objected Mr. Lorimer, “but nowadays, if people conduct themselves properly, there is no earthly reason why they should not go about alone at fit and proper hours, once they have come to years of discretion.” “I can assure you,” said Mrs. Dumaresq, assuming a grand air, and slightly raising her voice, as she always did when she meant to 14impress her hearers, “I can assure you that in diplomatic circles, a lady shopping without an escort, or at any rate without a maid, is unheard of.” 14 In every boarding-house throughout the British Islands there is to be found a person who is the intimate friend of the Prince of Wales. At 37, Beaconsfield Gardens, Mrs. Dumaresq was that person. “Yes, all very well amongst a lot of horrid foreigners,” said Mr. Lorimer obstinately; “no wonder ladies are afraid to go about alone where there’s a set of ugly, unwashed rascals that would run a dagger into them as soon as look at them, but grown-up Englishwomen in their own country may do what they please.” “I do not approve of ladies going anywhere alone. It may do for middle-class persons,” said Mrs. Dumaresq haughtily, “but I can assure you, from personal knowledge, that it is not done in diplomatic circles. When we lived at Belgrade, there was a Mrs. Twickenham who used to act in the most unconventional way, and one day the Princess—a dear old friend of ours—the Princess Hatzoff—you must have heard of her, first cousin to the Czar, a delightful 15woman and so attached to me—said, ‘Dearest Mimi’—she always called me Mimi—‘are English ladies in their own country, ladies of position such as you and I, allowed this liberty, not to say license, of action?’ and I replied, ‘No, Helène, certainly not.’” 15 The Misses Semaphore, Mrs. Whitley, and the lady doctor listened attentively to these reminiscences, but Mr. Lorimer was not impressed. “I maintain,” he said, “that this is a free country, and
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