"Well, it is better to have old friends than no friends"—making the retort courteous, with a beaming smile.
"I've been staying at the Hastings', too," says Minnie Hescott, glad to show that she is within the sacred circle, even though it be on its outermost edge. "But——" She stops.
"I know. You needn't go on," says Mrs. Chichester. "I've heard all about it. A terrible ménage, and no fires anywhere. Amy Stuart told me—she was staying with them last Christmas—that she often wished she was the roast joint in the oven, she felt so withered up with cold."
"Well, marriage improves people," says Colonel Neilson, laughing. "Let us hope it will enlarge Mrs. Hastings' mind as to the matter of fires."
"It will!" says Mrs. Chichester.
"But why? If——" says Margaret, leaning forward.
"Because marriage improves women, and"—Mrs. Chichester pauses, and lets her queer green eyes rest on Marryatt's—"and does the other thing for men."
Marryatt is looking back at her as if transfixed. He is thinking of her words rather than of her. Has marriage disimproved her husband? Has he been a brute to her? He knows so little—she has told him so little! At this moment it occurs to him that she has told him nothing.
"What are you staring at?" asks she presently. "Is anything the matter with me? Have I straws in my hair?"
His answer is interrupted by Mr. Gower.