"Oh, why should he write? We separated for ever."
"But then he proposed to come."
"Dear me, don't be logical, Ashley. You see he didn't come. I suppose he had a fit of something and wrote then." She paused, and added with a smile, "Perhaps it occurred to him that I used to be attractive."
"And then he forgot again?"
"I suppose so. Why do you talk about him? He's gone!" She waved her hand as though to scatter the last mist of remembrance of Jack Fenning.
"Perhaps he wanted to get some money out of you," said Ashley.
"You aren't flattering, Ashley."
"Ah, my dear, a man who does what I do may say what I say."
Something in his words or tone appealed to her. She knelt down by his chair and looked up in his face.
"You do all sorts of things for me, don't you?"