'On my way back from the Hicks',' she said conversationally, 'I met Sir Edward.'
'Ah! Indeed!
Brenda looked up from the heavy volume on her lap and waited with some interest. Mrs. Wylie paused some time before continuing. She leant to one side and took up a large work-basket, in which she searched busily for something.
'Yes,' she murmured at length, with her face literally in the basket; 'and ... Theo is in St. Petersburg!'
'St. Petersburg!' repeated Brenda slowly. 'In the winter. I rather envy him!'
'I do not imagine,' said Mrs. Wylie, still occupied with the dishevelled contents of her work-basket, 'that he is there on pleasure.'
Brenda laughed lightly.
'Theo,' she observed in a casual way, 'is not much given to pleasure in an undiluted state.'
'I like a man who takes life and his life's work seriously.'
'So do I,' assented Brenda indifferently.