"I told her I knew you didn't understand. I was sure you'd take it in good part…"
Undine raised herself on her elbow. "What did Lili tell you to tell me?"
"Oh, not to TELL you…simply to ask if, just for the present, you'd mind avoiding the Duchess's Thursdays …calling on any other day, that is."
"Any other day? She's not at home on any other. Do you mean she doesn't want me to call?"
"Well—not while the Marquise de Chelles is in Paris. She's the Duchess's favourite niece—and of course they all hang together. That kind of family feeling is something you naturally don't—"
Undine had a sudden glimpse of hidden intricacies.
"That was Raymond de Chelles' mother I saw there yesterday? The one they hurried out when I came in?"
"It seems she was very much upset. She somehow heard your name."
"Why shouldn't she have heard my name? And why in the world should it upset her?"
Madame de Trezac heaved a hesitating sigh. "Isn't it better to be frank?
She thinks she has reason to feel badly—they all do."