"Chandos looked hang-dog, and thoroughly ashamed of himself, as he always does," resumed Major Gale.
"An unfortunate man, I am always sorry for him," remarked Mr. Lepell, speaking for the first time. "I happen to know his history."
"Oh, really, do you?" ejaculated his guest, with the utmost indifference, selecting, as he spoke, a fresh cigarette.
"But what about the girl, Aunt Liz?" said her nephew suddenly, "is she really own sister to my friend Dominga?"
"I think so—indeed, what am I saying? Of course she is; she comes between her and Pussy, and by all accounts is the flower of the flock; adopted as an infant by an enormously rich woman—the schoolfellow of Mrs. Lopez."
"I cannot believe"—here he laughed—"that Mrs. Lopez ever went to school."
"Yes, she did, to Kidderpore. Mrs. Lopez was a beauty once, so was Mrs. Chandos."
"I don't admire beauties of that type."
"Don't you?" exclaimed Mr. Lepell. "I've seen some lovely Nair women on the West coast, handsomer you could not find; slim and graceful, with wheaten coloured skins and perfect features."
"But what about this young lady?" resumed his nephew.