'Well,' said Twemlow calmly, 'I guess you've got an actress in the family.'
Leonora and he remained in their seats, waiting till the press of people in the aisles should have thinned, and also, so far as Leonora was concerned, to avoid the necessity of replying to remarks about Milly. The atmosphere was still charged with excitement, but Leonora observed that Arthur Twemlow did not share it. Though he had applauded vigorously, there had been no trace of emotional transport in his demeanour. He spoke at once, immediately the lights were turned up, giving her no chance to collect herself.
'But do you think so?' she said. She remembered she had made the same foolish reply to Mrs. Burgess. With Twemlow she wished to be unconventional and sincere, but she could not succeed.
'Don't you?' He seemed to regard the situation as rather amusing.
'You surely can't mean that she would do for the stage?'
'Ask any one here whether she isn't born for it,' he answered.
'This is only an amateurs' affair,' Leonora argued.
'And she's only an amateur. But she won't be an amateur long.'
'But a girl like Milly can't be clever enough——'