"Do you think Ruth will like blue or grey paper?" she asked Cyprian.
"Grey," said Cyprian, who had never met the lady in question.
"Have you any mauve notepaper of this quality?" Adela asked the
assistant.
"We haven't any mauve," said the assistant, "but we've two shades of
green and a darker shade of grey."
Mrs. Chemping inspected the greens and the darker grey, and chose the
blue.
"Now we can have some lunch," she said.
Cyprian behaved in an exemplary fashion in the refreshment department,
and cheerfully accepted a fish cake and a mince pie and a small cup of
coffee as adequate restoratives after two hours of concentrated shopping.
He was adamant, however, in resisting his aunt's suggestion that a hat
should be bought for him at the counter where men's headwear was being
disposed of at temptingly reduced prices.
"I've got as many hats as I want at home," he said, "and besides, it
rumples one's hair so, trying them on."
Perhaps he was going to develop into a Nut after all. It was a
disquieting symptom that he left all the parcels in charge of the cloak-
room attendant.
"We shall be getting more parcels presently," he said, "so we need not
collect these till we have finished our shopping."
His aunt was doubtfully appeased; some of the pleasure and excitement of
a shopping expedition seemed to evaporate when one was deprived of
immediate personal contact with one's purchases.
"I'm going to look at those napkins again," she said, as they descended
the stairs to the ground floor.
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