“I don’t think ‘amiable’ is quite the word for that type of woman. But she is very brilliant, very charming.”
“I used to know her once before she was married,” said Annie in a low voice. “I am glad to hear she is happy.”
“I am scarcely able to judge of that. Ladies act so well, even when they are not on the stage, and they are often charming when at heart they are very miserable; so the novelists say.”
“You don’t think she is miserable, do you?” asked Annie, anxiously.
“Indeed I have no reasons for thinking so. She seems to have everything she can want, beauty, wealth, position, a good husband.”
“Then Mr. Falconer is nice?”
“He is generally popular, I believe; but I have scarcely seen him.”
“Ah!” escaped suddenly from Annie’s lips. She thought those last words significant.
She could not bring the conversation round to Colonel Richardson now without exciting his suspicions, so she merely asked him not to mention that she had ever known Mrs. Falconer.
“I wish to remain perdu to my old friends until I have got on—if I ever do get on,” she added, sadly.