"Mr. Burley, the man I said was coming today?"
"He came. You didn't tell me what he was coming for."
"I knew he'd do it so much better."
"He treated me to a long, long story about you."
"Yes, I rather thought he would."
"Oh, so you knew that, too?"
"I had no cause to suspect him of amiable intentions," she said, swinging her sailor hat by the elastic band. "I suppose he told you that I lived with Claude Fontaine?"
"Yes, but of course, I—"
"Oh, it's quite true."
M. St. Hilaire, nonplused by her candor, stroked his auburn beard and feasted on the sight of her as she sat in an armchair not far away. The indefinable suggestion of a devil-may-care mood enhanced her vital charm until it stirred, thrilled, intoxicated him.