"If you mean that she flirted—no, never, unless there was something to gain by it. But she is one of those what I call trampling women, who are determined to get all the good out of life—no matter who suffers."
"My dear Mrs. Fitzjohn," said Deep Voice, and in that voice there was a loud note of indignation, "Lola Hargreaves was never like this. She sacrificed herself entirely for her family, as I've told you. Mr. Waldershare helped her father, and saved him from disgrace—saved the estates, too. I was her bridesmaid," speaking as if this alone were a certificate of virtue. "And I never saw anyone look so white in my life. Oh yes, she sacrificed herself—we all felt that."
"Sacrificed herself for—herself," retorted Pink Gown, vindictively, "I'm afraid she must be greatly changed since you knew her."
"I do not see why she should."
"Her one passion is gambling."
"Oh, well, of course it is in the family—her father ruined himself."
"I went home with her on board ship from Egypt; she always made me think of Cleopatra, the serpent of the old Nile; she was so long and willowy, and seemed to twine and glide about, and to fascinate. She only exercised her fascinations on rich men, and that but seldom; but if they went and sat by her deck-chair they were lost! Mr. Waldush would talk to them, and dazzle them, and then say: 'Shall we have a little game?' She won large sums, and never showed the smallest excitement, and when she gathered up her winnings with her long white lingers, would say, in her sweetest manner, 'Oh, you should have played this, or that, card.' She is a marvellous player; and has the brain of a mathematician, the men declared."
"I'm glad she has even that," rejoined her bridesmaid, with considerable heat. "I speak of Lola as I found her, and I stick to the fact that she gave up Gascoigne to save Earlsmead from going to the hammer, and to provide for her mother and brothers," and there was more than a suspicion of sharpness in the key.
"And I," said Mrs. Fitzjohn, "stick to the fact that Earlsmead went to the hammer; that the pecuniary help was comparatively insignificant. I speak with authority, as my sister is married to Edgar Hargreaves, Lola's eldest brother. The place is gone from him and his heirs for ever; they can just barely get along, and no more. Lola had no idea of marrying a sub. in the Sappers when she could marry a millionaire with forty thousand a year—she said so; and I know that she gave old Mr. Waldershare any amount of encouragement; in fact, she threw herself at his feet." Mrs. Danvers, of the Deep Voice, threw up her head indignantly, and glared at her opponent, but made no reply. "Lola Waldershare is one of those women who knows exactly what she wants—and gets it."
"She did not gain much by her marriage, at any rate," argued her bridesmaid, with a sneer.