"Look me in the face."
He did so unwillingly, and found her eyes fastened on his with a determined expression.
"Is my husband with that woman?"
"No! I don't think so, but I certainly heard she was at San Remo," he answered evasively.
"Ah!" she drew a long breath, and a look of anger swept across her pale face. "He is with her then. I thought so."
"You must not be too hard on Guy," said Eustace, very feebly it must be confessed.
"Hard on Guy," she repeated scornfully. "Hard on a man who leaves his wife and child for a vile woman like that. You, of course, take his side."
"Why should I?" demanded Eustace hotly, "because I am his cousin?"
"No, because you are a man. Men always stand up for one another. It's a kind of esprit du corps with them I suppose. It is no wrong to betray a woman in their eyes."
"I don't know why you expect me to stand up for my sex, I'm sure," said Eustace cynically. "I think very little of them I assure you, and am quite incompetent to undertake the Herculean task of defending their failings. I've got too many of my own to account for."