Already he was calling her husband Ed, and with an affectionate intonation!
She nodded again.
"He stuck it out jolly well," said Ingpen, still standing.
"He brings these attacks on himself," said Hilda, with the calm sententiousness of a good digestion discussing a bad one. She was becoming pleased with herself--with her expensive dress, her position, her philosophy, and her power to hold the full attention of this man.
Ingpen replied, looking steadily at her:
"We bring everything on ourselves."
Then he smiled, as a comrade to another.
She shifted her pose. A desire to discuss Edwin with this man grew in her, for she needed sympathy intensely.
"What do you think of this new scheme of his?" she demanded somewhat self-consciously.
"The new works? Seems all right. But I don't know much about it."