“Are you very fond of her?”
“I am not fond of her at all.”
“Is it true?”
“Quite true. She repels me.”
She took a quick little breath.
“All I know is what the prince has told me,” she said, “that Jeneski was living with a woman known as the Countess Rémond, whom he had met in America, and who had been married to Lappo’s illegitimate son, and that he had had a small estate restored to her.”
“She hates Jeneski now,” said Selden. “They quarrelled, I suppose.”
“Or perhaps he never was her lover—gossip like that starts easily.”
“Yes—she said something to me just to-night—what was it? Oh, yes, that he found women less fascinating than politics.”
“Well, so do you. So do most men—if not politics, then something else—we are always second to something. But that is as it should be—it is a sign of strength. Life has taught me that.”