It was the first mention of his name that Diane had heard in many weeks, and at the sound her hand trembled in such a way that she was obliged to put down untasted the cup she had half raised to her lips.
"He's not an unkind man," she found voice to say; "he's only a mistaken one. He has one of those natures capable of dealing magnificently with great affairs, but helpless in the trivial matters of every day. He's like the people who see well at a distance, but become confused over the objects right under their eyes."
"Then the farther you keep away from that man the better the view he'll take of you. It's what I'd say to Carli if he'd ask for my advice."
"Does that mean," Diane ventured to inquire, "that you don't want him to marry Dorothea?"
"I certainly do not. If there were no other reason, she's the sort of girl to make me put one foot into the grave, whether I want to or no; and it stands to reason that I don't want to be squelched one hour before my time."
"Naturally; but I fancy you'd find her a sweeter girl than you might suppose."
"So she may be, dear; but I've spent too much money on Carli to wish to see him force his way into a family where he isn't wanted."
This was the text of Mrs. Wappinger's discourse, not only on the present occasion, but on the subsequent "off-days," when Diane was induced to visit Waterwild.
"Whatever is going on, Reggie Bradford's in it," she confided to Diane some few weeks later.
"Is that the fat young man with the big laugh?"