"Darling, you're so rare and precious the poor sweet can't live on your plane," said Vicky comfortingly. "Really, it's all dreadfully sad, and rather like a Russian novel, and I wouldn't wonder a bit if you were one of those terribly fated women who go through life never being understood or appreciated."
This speech seemed to Mary altogether too fulsome to be stomached, but Ermyntrude was visibly soothed by it, and volunteered the information that she had always been one of the deep ones.
"Oh, you are so awfully right, Ermyntrude, darling pet!" agreed Vicky. "In fact, I think you're rather like one of those mysterious mountain tarns, and quite, quite wonderful!"
Ermyntrude was gratified by being thought to resemble a mountain tarp, but it was evident that Wally's latest misdemeanour had seriously upset her. Her colour remained alarmingly high, and her eyes very bright and sparkling. Nor was Mary reassured by her rising abruptly to her feet, and announcing with unaccustomed curtness that the subject would not bear further discussion. It was not Ermyntrude's way to bottle up her grievances, and the studied cheerfulness of her voice, when she began immediately to talk about the prospective dinner-party, had the effect of disturbing Mary more than a lively display of hysterics would have done.
Vicky seemed to feel this too, for, following Mary out of the room presently, she said rather unhappily that the atmosphere was thickening too fast. "Volcanoes; sulphurous smoke," she added, in somewhat vague explanation. "I don't think it would be nice for her to have a divorce, do you?"
"It may not be true."
"Oh, I feel sure it is! Poor sweet, I wish she could have got it off her chest to us, because now I think quite probably she'll tell Robert Steel."
"She mustn't do that!" Mary said quickly.
"No, but I dare say she will," said Vicky, accepting it with exasperating nonchalance.
When Mary rejoined Ermyntrude, it was with the intention of reopening the discussion, but Ermyntrude said, still in that unnaturally repressed voice, that the least said the soonest mended. Rather to Mary's surprise, she soon made it plain that she meant to join the shooting-party for a picnic lunch, just as she had originally planned.