Around her people fluttered leaves, or put books back on their shelves,
or carried on the cataloguing of a large and but half-arranged library.
But Rosy gave heed to none of this. "Scodd-Paston," she said; "here's a
whole paragraph." And she buried herself in it at once.
She had begun with the Queen and the royal family and the order of
precedence. Then she had gone through the dukes, very carefully; then
through the marquesses, not so carefully; then through the earls,
somewhat cursorily: "Here's one with eight daughters, the Honourable
Gertrude-Adeline, and seven more." Then she had bolted through the
viscounts and barons: "This one's awfully new--only from 1810." Then she
slid lightly over the baronets. Then she passed on to the knights. "I
don't suppose it's _here_." But it was.
"'General Sir John-George-Alexander Scodd-Paston,'--that's a pretty good
name," thought the girl--"'born in 1835; entered Life Guards in 1855;
married in 1857 to Mary-Victoria, dau. of James, Lord Lyndhurst'--I
wonder if she was of higher rank than he. Oh, here we come to his own.
'Attained rank of colonel, 1869; general, 1877; served in Egyptian
campaign of 1882; appointed Groom-in-Waiting to Her Majesty in
1883'--ever so many capital letters. 'C.B., 1882; K.C.B., 1885'--a lot
more. Whatever do they mean? Does he wear stars and things? And here's
where he lives: 'Boxton Park, Witham, Essex.' And somewhere else, too:
'10, King's-gate Gardens, S.
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