“I was laughing at Jem. He’s fairly caught at last!”
“Do you mean that this is more than Jem’s way?”
“Oh, yes, and it’s coming rapidly to a crisis. Don’t you see? I wonder which will rule the roast? Will Jem dress her in ‘funny green,’ or will he have to cut his coat according to his lady?”
“It seems to me very unsuitable,” said Hugh, after a slightly-puzzled pause.
“That’s the beauty of it, I suppose. One wouldn’t have been half so much surprised if Jem had fallen in love with Mademoiselle Mattei!”
“Mademoiselle Mattei had a great many admirers,” said Hugh, as he looked out of window. “I suppose, now she has recovered her voice, she will fulfil her engagement to that, scoundrel—I mean that manager—Vasari.”
“She was very forlorn at the loss of him, poor child,” said Arthur, making most unconscious mischief.
“She told you so?”
“Yes—pretty much. I told her to keep up her heart, and she picked some olive-leaves as a reminder. The other day she told me how she had kept my advice. She is a confiding little creature, and very simple-hearted.”
A silence. Then.