'But at my house-under our auspices!'
Diana glanced at the clock. 'Nowhere.'
'Is it not—pardon me—a wife's duty, Mrs. Warwick, at least to listen?'
'Lady Wathin, I have listened to you.'
'In the case of his extreme generosity so putting it, for the present, Mrs. Warwick, that he asks only to be heard personally by his wife! It may preclude so much.'
Diana felt a hot wind across her skin.
She smiled and said: 'Let me thank you for bringing to an end a mission that must have been unpleasant to you.'
'But you will meditate on it, Mrs. Warwick, will you not? Give me that assurance!'
'I shall not forget it,' said Diana.
Again the ladies touched fingers, with an interchange of the social grimace of cordiality. A few words of compassion for poor Lady Dunstane's invalided state covered Lady Wathin's retreat.