"Have you heard from your sister, Miss Semaphore?" asked Mrs. Dumaresq, after a time, as she ate her soup.
"Yes, thank you."
"And how is she?"
"Not so well—at least, better. I mean she is not yet quite well, but is better than she was."
What further embarrassing questions the lady might have put Prudence could only speculate, for, providentially, Mrs. Dumaresq was appealed to by the medical woman for her opinion on some hotly-contested question of Government policy. This was being discussed by Major Jones and Mr. Lorimer, who, it has been said, like most gentlemen that live in boarding-houses, were staunch Conservatives. A new boarder had just given utterance to deplorably Radical sentiments.
Mrs. Dumaresq had not heard, and politely requested information as to the point at issue.
"My husband," said the wife of the new boarder, "remarked that, in proportion to their means, the poor are taxed far more heavily than the rich, and he advocates reversing this. What do you think?"·
