"Really! And you never told me."
"Madam never asked me. She never asked me if I knew Colonel Stroud, either. How could I tell that she wanted to know?"
"Oh, but I don't want to know. I'm only interested—" she looked toward me—"that you and—and this young lady should be so—so intimate."
"I hope madam doesn't mind."
"Let me see," Vio began to calculate. "It's about four or five weeks since Mrs. Mountney sent you to me."
"And Mrs. Averill had sent me to her. You see, madam, I get a commission on every pair, and so—"
"And so it was a good opportunity to—"
"To improve myself. Yes, madam."
Vio's brows came together in a frown. "To ... what? I don't understand you."
"You see, madam, it's this way. I've only taken this corset job to—to get an insight. I'm not really a saleswoman at all. I'm an adventuress."