'Uncommonly attractive—no ballast,' summed up Glentorly. 'You never see her now, I suppose?'
'Nobody does,' said Mrs. Bonfill, using 'nobody' in its accepted sense. She sighed gently. 'You can't help people who won't be helped.'
'So Viola Blixworth implies,' he reminded her with a laugh.
'Oh, Viola's hopelessly flippant; but she'll manage it in the end, I expect.' She sighed again and went on, 'I don't know that, after all, one does much good by meddling with other people's affairs.'
'Come, come, this is only a moment of despondency, Sarah.'
'I suppose so,' she agreed, with returning hope. To consider that her present mood represented a right and ultimate conclusion would have been to pronounce a ban on all her activities. 'I've half a mind to propose myself for a visit to Barslett.'
'You couldn't do better,' Lord Glentorly cordially agreed. 'Everything will soon be over here, you see.'
She looked at him a little suspiciously. Did he suggest that she should retreat for a while and let the talk of her failures blow over? He was an old friend, and it was conceivable that he should seek to convey such a hint delicately.
'I had one letter from Trix,' she continued. 'A confused rigmarole—explanations, and defence, and apologies, and all the rest of it.'
'What did you write to her?'