“Oh yes,” she answered. “He is quite easy to manage, if — if one only knows the way.”
The quizzing-glass fell. “His lordship’s parents should be anxious to meet you,” said the gentleman.
Her smile was twisted. “I am afraid not, sir. I do not know whether you are acquainted with his grace of Avon?”
“Intimately,” he said, with the ghost of a laugh.
“Oh, then — ” She broke off. “In short, sir, I refused Lord Vidal’s offer, and we — ”
“But were you not about to make some observation concerning his grace of Avon?” he interposed urbanely.
“I was, sir, but if you are intimate with him I will refrain.”
“Pray do not. In what monstrous light has this gentleman appeared to you?”
“I have never set eyes on him, sir. I only judge him by what I have heard, and by things that Lord Vidal has from time to time let fall. I suppose him to be a man of few morals and no heart. He seems to me a sinister person, and is, I believe, quite unscrupulous in attaining his ends.”
The gentleman appeared to be amused. “I am far from contradicting you, Miss Challoner, but may I inquire whether you culled this masterly description from Lord Vidal’s lips?”