“On a base as broad as the pyramids of which you were talking at dinner. Public report, not nearly so misleading a guide as people think, your face, your voice, your eyes, all betray you. Why do you always try to get near him to touch him?—answer me that. I have seen you do it three times this evening. Once you handed him a book in order to touch his hand beneath it; but there is no need to enumerate what you doubtless very well remember. No nice woman, Mrs. Carr, ever likes to continually touch a man unless she loves him. You are always listening for his voice and step, you are listening for them now. Your eyes follow his face as a dog does his master’s—when you speak to him, your voice is a caress in itself. Shall I go on?”
“I think that it is unnecessary. Whether you be right or not, I will give you the credit of being a close observer.”
“To observe with me is at once a task and an amusement, and the habit is one that leads me to accurate conclusions, as I think you will admit. The conclusion I have come to in your case is that you do not wish to see Arthur Heigham married to another woman. I spoke just now of assistance——”
“I have none to give, I will give none. How could I look him in the face?”
“You are strangely scrupulous for a woman in your position.”
“I have always tried to behave like an honourable woman, Lady Bellamy, and I do not feel inclined to do otherwise now.”
“Perhaps you will think differently when it comes to the point. But in the meanwhile remember, that people who will not help themselves, cannot expect to be helped.”
“Once and for all, Lady Bellamy, understand me. I fight for my own hand with the weapons which Nature and fortune have given me, and by myself I will stand or fall. I will join in no schemes to separate Arthur from this woman. If I cannot win him for myself by myself, I will at any rate lose him fairly. I will respect what you have told me, but I will do no more.”
Lady Bellamy smiled as she answered—
“I really admire your courage. It is quite quixotic. Hush, here come the gentlemen.”