"You are la belle dame sans merci."
"Tell me of Nibbetts, Mrs. Darling," Waltheof cut in suggestively. "I've not seen him in months."
"Nor I," replied Nina. "He's been in Dundee. I hear he's in love with a Scotch lassie. I suspect she's a marmalade-maker."
"Really!" exclaimed the tame cat, taking her seriously. "Too devilish bad!"
"Yes. Isn't it? Fancy how tired he must get of smelling orange peel every time he kisses her hand!" She made a grimace and turned back to Kitty Bellingdown. "You didn't come up for the season? Why?"
"I've been wretched. So upset over Caryll's affair. I hadn't the heart to face any one. But now it's all quite straightened out, you know, and I'm so glad for the boy's sake."
"Do tell me what it was," Nina urged. "I heard the mother fell in love with him and was jealous of the girl."
"No, it wasn't that," was the non-committal reply.
"Odd, but I haven't seen Caryll since we were kiddies. How has he grown? Handsome?"
"Oh, very. A sweet boy. He'd make any woman happy."