"She's a very attractive cat," Peggy said.
"He doesn't care two straws about her," Collingwood replied quite definitely.
"Then why did he come?"
"To please you—for no other reason."
"Anyway, I don't like her," Peggy said. "Do you? I believe you do, Colling."
Collingwood jumped up from the sofa. "Now, stop that, Peggy," he said.
The glint of mischief in Peggy's eyes glowed more strongly. "She's a very attractive woman," she said.
"Well, she's not the sort of woman who attracts me," Collingwood replied, sitting down again upon the couch and tapping impatiently with his foot upon the carpet. He seemed disturbed, uneasy, under the influence of some suppressed emotion.
Peggy stroked her nose with one little finger, and then she leant down towards Collingwood. "What sort of woman attracts you?" she said in a low voice.
Again the man jumped up, and a keen observer would have noticed that tiny beads of perspiration had come out upon his forehead like seed pearls.