"Later on, perhaps--who knows?" repeated the Duchess, using the girl's own words; then continued soothingly, "No; I shall not call the servants and make a scandal, since your father is my friend."
"Your accomplice, Lady James."
"What an unpleasant word, and how very unsuitable!"
"For what you did in Paris."
"I did nothing in Paris to deserve such a word. Perhaps you mean something else. You foreigners know the grammar of English, but rarely the meaning of words. I remarked the same defect in your father."
"I have no father."
"Indeed, I have not yet heard of his death."
"Your misunderstanding of my meaning is pretence."
"Ignorance, I assure you. And as it grows late and I am tired, may I ask you to explain your business?"
"I can do so in one word--Demetrius." Katinka rose to give full force of expression to the name, and her voice rose with the utterance.