"Have I offended you?"
"No. Not at all—only disappointed me a little. I had such nice plans for you."
He laughed.
"Olga, you're the most wonderful woman in the world. I don't deserve your friendship. But I did want to loaf—I worked pretty hard last winter."
"Oh, you needn't evade me. I can't make you like my friends. But I hoped you wouldn't disappoint them. Mrs. Berkley Hammond, the Gormeley twins, and now Hermia—"
"Miss Challoner!" in surprise. "Her portrait! I thought she disapproved of my method."
She smiled. "Oh, you don't know Hermia as I do. One is never more certain in one's judgment of her than when one thinks one is wrong." She gave a short laugh. "At any rate, she said she was going to speak to you about it."
"That's curious," he muttered.
"Will you do it?" she asked.
He looked away toward the terrace.