Robert Acton took his hands out of his pockets and came a little nearer to the Baroness. “You say you gain by being known,” he said. “One certainly gains by knowing you.”
“What have you gained?” asked Eugenia.
“An immense amount of wisdom.”
“That’s a questionable advantage for a man who was already so wise!”
Acton shook his head. “No, I was a great fool before I knew you!”
“And being a fool you made my acquaintance? You are very complimentary.”
“Let me keep it up,” said Acton, laughing. “I hope, for our pleasure, that your brother’s marriage will detain you.”
“Why should I stop for my brother’s marriage when I would not stop for my own?” asked the Baroness.
“Why shouldn’t you stop in either case, now that, as you say, you have dissolved that mechanical tie that bound you to Europe?”
The Baroness looked at him a moment. “As I say? You look as if you doubted it.”