“Queen Mary,” Aileen Kendal suddenly suggested, brightly.
Martyn considered her gravely.
“What makes you think it might be?” he inquired at last, evidently honestly curious.
“Oh, I don’t know. You said we might take public characters, and she was the first one I thought of.”
“It might be me, I suppose,” Claire said, thoughtfully, “only it leaves out a good deal. I mean, I don’t think those characteristics are the most salient ones.”
“Besides, some of them wouldn’t apply, Cousin Claire,” said Sallie, ruthlessly. “For one thing, I should never call you in the least—”
“Tell me who it is, Sallie,” her mother interrupted her.
“You, of course. I guessed it directly and so did Cousin Miles.”
“It’s good, I think,” said Martyn. “Elusive is the very word I’ve been looking for to describe mother’s sort of remoteness.”
I saw the Kendals exchange glances with one another.