'Yes,' said Lady Bandobust. 'Mr. Pink tells me you are an American,
Miss Wick, though anybody could see that much. He knows your father, I
believe?'
'Not personally, I think,' I returned. 'Poppa has never visited England,
Lady Bandobust.'
'Perhaps we had better say "financially," then--knows him financially.'
'I daresay that is all that is necessary,' I said, innocently at the
time, though I have since understood Lady Bandobust's reason for looking
at me so sharply.
'You come from Chinchinnatti, I understand from Mr. Pink,' she
continued.
'I beg your pardon? Oh, Cincinatti! No, from Chicago, Lady Bandobust.'
'I understood from Mr. Pink that you came from Chinchinnatti--the place
where people make millions in tinned pork. I had a nephew there
for seven years, so I ought to know something about it,' said Lady
Bandobust, with some asperity. 'But if you say you are from Chickago, I
have no doubt you are right.'
'Mr. Pink informed me,' continued Lady Bandobust, 'that he thought
you might feel able to afford to see a little of English society. I've
noticed that Americans generally like to do that if they can.'