"I don't see why. I know her quite well, somehow, though I have only known her such a short time."
There was a short silence. Mrs. Davenport was casting about in her mind as to how she might learn what she wanted, without betraying her desire to know it.
"Did you write to Gerty yesterday?" she asked at length.
"No, I didn't," said Reggie, frankly. "I was out all day and then I went to the Hayes in the evening."
"Are you going out to Lucerne at the end of the month?"
"No, I think not; somebody told me—Lady Hayes, I think—that it was awfully slow. I told Gerty the Arbuthnots were going out, and suggested she should leave Mrs. Carston with them and come back to London. I like London, somehow, this year."
Mrs. Davenport was beginning to understand. She could have found it in her heart at that moment to label Eva with some names that would have astonished her.
"Does Lady Hayes talk about Gerty much?"
"Oh, yes, a good deal; at least, she lets me talk about her whenever I want to."
"Is that a good deal?"