"You did not. Mrs. Perage did, however, as she was anxious for your mistake to be corrected. I am anxious, also, else I would not have troubled to take this long journey."
"Why did you undertake it, then?"
"Because I have the greatest respect for Mr. Hench."
"The greatest love, you mean."
"Indeed, I mean nothing of the sort," said Zara candidly. "I have no more love for Mr. Hench than I have for that table. Didn't you hear Mrs. Perage say that I was engaged to Mr. Bracken?"
"Yes! I suppose you are," admitted Gwen reluctantly. "But there is always one who loves and one who is loved, you know."
"Heine, the German poet, said that, Miss Evans. I congratulate you on the wide range of your reading. It shows that you are not narrow, and not being narrow, I trust that you will do Mr. Hench justice."
"He proposed to you. I heard him say so myself."
"My dear," said the dancer, after the lenient fashion of an elder sister, "Mr. Hench at that time would have proposed to any woman of decent character and decent looks. Your Heine quotation implied that although I did not love him, he loved me. There you are entirely wrong. He admired me, certainly, but----"
"But he proposed to you," interrupted Miss Evans doggedly.