Jane flinched a little for the first time.
"All the world knows that," she answered. "He married an American, one of William Hunter's daughters."
"Who has now, I understand, left him?" Lady Jane shrugged her shoulders.
"I do not discuss Mr. Tallente's matrimonial affairs with him."
"Surely," her mother remarked acidly, "in view of your growing intimacy they are of some interest to you both?"
Jane was silent for a moment.
"Just what have you come to say, mother?" she asked, looking up at her, clear-eyed and composed. "Better let's get it over."
The Duchess cleared her throat.
"Jane," she said, "we have become reconciled, your father and I, against our wills, to your strange political views and the isolation in which you choose to live, but when your eccentricities lead you to a course of action which makes you the target for scandal, your family protests. I have come to beg that this intimacy of yours with Mr. Tallente should cease."
"Mother," Jane replied, "for years after I left the schoolroom I subjected myself to your guidance in these matters. I went through three London seasons and made myself as agreeable as possible to whatever you brought along and called a man. At the end of that time I revolted. I am still in revolt. Mr. Tallente interests me more than any man I know and I shall not give up my friendship with him."