In  the  centre  of  the  room,  emerging  from  a  chunk
of  marble,  the  back  and  neck  and  one  ear  of  an  un-

311


THE    COMMON   LAW


clothed  lady  protruded;  and  the  sculptured  achieve-
ment was  labelled,  "  Beatrice  Andante."

"  Oh,  Lord,"  whispered  Neville,  repressing  a  violent
desire  to  laugh.  "  Beatrice  and  Aunty  !  I  didn't  know
he  had  one."

"Is  it  Dante's  Beatrice,  Kelly.?  Where  is  Dante
and  his  Aunty  i"  "

"  God  knows.  They  made  a  mess  of  it  anyway,
those  two — andante — which  I  suppose  this  mess  in  mar-
ble symbolises.  Pity  he  didn't  have  an  aunty  to  tell
him  how."

"  Louis !  LIow  irreverent !  "  she  whispered,  eyes
sparkling  with  laughter.
"  Shall  I  try  a  five-minute  fashionable  impromptu,
dear.''  "  he  asked:


"If  Dante'd  had  an  Aunty
Who  ante-dated  Dante
And  scolded  him
And  tolded  him
The  way  to  win  a  winner,
It's  a  cinch  or  I'm  a  sinner.
He'd  have  taken  Trix  to  dinner.
He'd  have  given  her  the  eye
Of  the  fish  about  to  die,
And  folded  her,
And  moulded  her
Like  dough  within  a  pie —
A  sallow,  pallid  pie —
And  cooked  a  scheme  to  marry  her.
And  hired  a  hack  to  carry  her
To  stately  Harlem-by-the-Bronx,
WTiere  now  the  lonely  taxi  honks-
312


THE    COMMON   LAW


"  Kelly  !  "  she  gasped.
They  both  were  laughing  so  that  they  hastened
their  steps,  fearful  of  offending,  and  barely  contrived  to
compose  their  features  when  making  their  adieux  to
]\Irs.  Hind-Willet  and  the   Countess  d'Enver.
